10 Good Things That Came Out of the Midterm Elections

Lynn Yaeger
Updated
From the restoration of voting rights to citizens with felonies in Florida to an openly gay governor in what used to be called “the hate state.”

Sorrow about Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum losing their races and grief that the Democrats did not sweep the Senate may have clouded your vision last night. But in the clear light of day—it’s a beautiful morning here in New York City—things don’t seem nearly as bleak.

In fact, lots of the results are pretty great!

Here are just 10 reasons to be cheerful:

  1. Union buster Scott Walker is apparently finally out as governor of Wisconsin. Walker’s claim to fame was rolling back labor unions’ collective bargaining rights, including the rights of teachers’ unions. Despite the bitterness he engendered, he was reelected in 2014. But finally—good riddance!

  2. In Colorado—once known as the “hate state” for a 1992 statewide constitutional amendment that legalized discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender residents—Democrat Jared Polis is projected to become the first openly gay man to win a governor’s race.

  3. In New Hampshire, Chris Pappas is slated to be the first openly gay member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

  4. Lots of women won! More than 115 women out of 276 on the ballot; 11 women won Senate bids and nine won gubernatorial races.

  5. Two Muslim-American women—Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar—are heading to the House.

  6. Two Native American women will be serving in the House, as well: New Mexico’s Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids, who is projected to win in Kansas.

  7. Hate did not win in Massachusetts—voters defeated a ballot initiative that would have rolled back a law protecting transgender citizens by forbidding discrimination based on gender identity in places of public accommodation (any place open to the general public, such as hotels, stores, restaurants, theaters, sports facilities, and hospitals).

  8. Florida approved Amendment 4, automatically restoring voting rights in the state for people previously convicted of felonies, which means that more than a million folks who were not allowed to vote can now be counted in the democratic system.

  9. Look out, President Trump! As of January, Maxine Waters, your archnemesis, is poised to chair the House’s Financial Services Committee.

  10. And finally, lest we forget—Democrats gained at least 26 seats and flipped the House!

See the videos.