Finding slivers of hope on a brutal night
I'm trying to find *something* to be happy about from last night. You have to look pretty hard for it, but it's out there.
Yesterday was brutal. There are no two ways about that.
I’ve gotten, by my quick count, about 200 texts from friends asking some version of the same question: is there anything to feel good about?
I’m not going to linger on the topic of Trump—as friends of mine who were with me can attest, I did enough doomscrolling last night for a lifetime. There’s a lot to be concerned and scared about, but I don’t need to offer another negative take—there are plenty of those already.1
In looking for something positive, I feel a little bit like Eric Idle, singing “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” as he faces his imminent death at the end of Life of Brian. But here we are.
Maybe this can be a pinch of optimism in an otherwise brutal 18 hours.
Some of the most extreme candidates lost
Kamala Harris lost in North Carolina, but there’s some good news coming out of the state:
Democrat Josh Stein, who by all accounts is a fundamentally good person, will be North Carolina’s next Governor. He beat Republican Mark Robinson, whose Wikipedia page has sections that include “Antisemitic remarks,” “Holocaust denial,” and “Homophobic and transphobic comments.”
Republican Michele Morrow, who has a habit of calling for the execution of public figures she doesn’t like, lost her race for Superintendent of Public Instruction to Democrat Maurice Green.
Republican Dan Bishop, who likes to compare the Taliban to LGBTQ activists, lost his race for Attorney General to Democrat Jeff Jackson.
That’s not the only example of this. Arizona, which Trump will probably win, is nonetheless likely to repudiate Senate candidate Kari Lake, who still claims that she won Arizona’s gubernatorial election in 2022. (She didn’t.) Democrat Ruben Gallego will likely win that race.
There are other examples of this too. But it’s good to see voters rejecting some of the most extreme candidates.
Abortion access generally did well
Abortion-access ballot measures, including Amendment 3 in Missouri, passed in states around the country.2 On a night of bad news, this is worth celebrating.
A new model in Nebraska
When I encouraged people to give money to Independent Dan Osborn a few weeks ago, I did so acknowledging that he was an underdog despite the polling. Unfortunately, he indeed lost.
But as was the case in Utah two years ago, Republicans are winning by surprisingly small margins when independents run and Democrats don’t.
Osborn had no business losing by so little in such a Republican state. And maybe there’s a model here going forward: we need more independents, running one-on-one against a Republican.
Climate
Republicans winning is bad for climate, full stop. Against that framing, two thoughts here:
Washington state overwhelmingly rejected a repeal of its cap-and-trade program, Measure 2117. This is good policy, and it demonstrates the political viability of cap-and-trade at a time when that was uncertain.
I think Elon Musk is a uniquely destructive force in American politics, in so many ways. I believe he’s a bigot. The fact that Trump is in his pocket is, in general, very bad for this country. But that corruption will probably mean more support for and development of electric vehicles in this country, at a time when their approval rating is waning. It’s perhaps the worst, most outrageous possible way to get to reasonable policy.
There are good people in elected office
There is no shortage of good people in elected office. Obviously there are plenty of bad people too. But we should acknowledge that there are still people in public service for the right reasons.
I don’t need to list all of them, and there are some good people I’m still hoping will win in U.S. House races that haven’t been called just yet.
I’ll note, however, that at the start of 2025, St. Louis will be incredibly lucky to be represented by Wesley Bell and Nikki Budzinski. Both are good people and good legislators; both care about the region. Both will be able to work with Republican majorities to deliver for Greater St. Louis.
Not everyone in the country is as fortunate as we are to have such good representation.
Maybe this forces a reset
This election wasn’t close; Republicans will have won the popular vote for the first time in 20 years. Democratic messaging is not resonating with enough people. I don’t have the answers for why that is. But if we’re losing to Donald Trump consistently—and two-out-of-three is unfortunately consistent—then we probably need a full reboot.
A closer election might’ve led to tinkering. We need something much deeper than that if we want to compete in ’26 and beyond.
Final thoughts
I’ll leave all of you with two messages.
First, to quote the great philosopher Daniel Simpson Day3: “Don’t get mad; get even.” If you’re worried about the future like I am, find ways to get involved. Figure out the causes you care about and engage. Feel bad now, and then look ahead towards the future.
Second, and on a more serious note, there’s a quote from Clarence Darrow4 that I think about a lot in evaluating my life: whether “I have done something to help human understanding, to temper justice with mercy, to overcome hate with love.”
I’ve seen a lot of people in let’s-figure-out-who-to-blame mode: white women or young men or Latinos or Black people or whoever. This isn’t just wrong morally and wrong factually; it’s ineffective, and it diminishes what our neighbors are feeling and what they’re experiencing.
I’m hardly perfect on this dimension. But I will do more to engage with people who don’t think like I do or vote like I do.
We all could use a bit more help with human understanding.
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For me personally, beyond the obvious of a Trump win and a Republican U.S. Senate, it’s really upsetting that ranked-choice voting didn’t do well. And Missouri’s Amendment 2 is on a razor’s edge, but unfortunately I think it will pass. My prediction: the consequences will be devastating to an extent that it’ll get repealed within the next decade.
They also passed in Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Colorado, New York, and Maryland.
Whereabouts unknown.
The speech was given in the defense of Leopold & Loeb, of all things, almost exactly a century ago.