Midterm elections 2018 in USA : between changes and confirmations

On November 6, 2018, in USA had been Midterm elections, for renew part of Congress and elect new governors.

Let’s have some conclusions about these elections. 

Midterm elections happen every four years in USA, just two years after presidential election, and usually it’s like a big and important test for the current president and basically for all the american politics. 

Midterm elections, as already said, are about the replacement of a big part of Congress and States governements.

Let’s briefly remind how Congress works:

House of Representatives hasn’t got a precise number of members: the House has a variable number of members that depends on the base of the electors of every District. Bigger States have more Districts and so more electables than the smaller States. 

US Senate instead has a strick organization: someone has said that’s the only “democratic” organ in US, because it’s a proportional organ: every american State has a rigid number of senators (two).

Because of the federal US structure, every State it’s like the central federal Washington government: there are a governor, a Congress (with House and Senate), a Constitution, a Supreme Court, an Attorney General.

So, how were these Midterm elections? 

We can have two simples considerations:

First:

Democrats got the House, Republicans preserve the Senate. Capitol Hill it’s half divided, e there’s a shutdown concrete risk with a divided Capitol.

Second:

these were elections of the “first time” and of new people: young, LGBT exponents, muslims, hispanics, ad immigrants people.

After eight years, democrats hope to take a strong revenge on their enemies, especially for 2020 presidential elections.

Probably democrats at the House will have 225-235 chairs majority, maybe about 230. 

Before Midterm elections, there were 194 “sure” democrats chairs and 166 “sure” republicans chairs, all the rest was a possible “conquest”. Democrats have won even in “Trump” Districts but the Democrat “Blue Wave” wasn’t so big as people hope before elections, but “a Wave” however has been, and conducted Democrats to the House. Without a doubt,  a Democrat House will be hard for a Republican president and for his laws and controvertial projects. We have to expect a future struggle in Washington DC: all the new democrats elects are certainlty anxious to make real politics and to govern. Waiting for 2020 presidential elections.

Many women, especially democrats, were elected and entered on the national “politics” stage.

Except Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, we have to notice also the two first muslims women ever elected to Congress. These are Rashida Tlaib, 42 years old, single mother of two, lawyer, democratic woman, elder daughter of a palestinian-immigrant family. Tlaib hs been elected  for the 13th Michigan District (corresponding to the Detroit area), and Ilham Omar. She was in 2017 Times most powerful women rank and she’ll be the first deputy to wear hijab in Congress.

Omar is 36 years old, she’s also a democrat woman, and she has been elected for the 5th Minnesota District (she earned the 78% of all the votes). Omar is from a refugee somali family come in US when she was 14. As many people know, it’s possible to have been elected in USA for all publics offices, except for the White House. In fact, american Constitution says that only american people, or born-inside-national borders can become president.

Another great personality elected to Congress is Sharice Davis.

She’s another democratic woman elected in the 3rd Kansas district. She’s lawyer, lesbian, and raised from a single veteran-Army mother. She’s also a first-time woman: in fact she’s the first woman ever elected as deputy in Kansas, she’s the first native american deputy ever elected in american history (she’s from the Wisconsin Ho-Chunk Nation, and above all, she’s the first woman deputy able in MMA, the combine martial art.

Davis isn’t the only native american woman elected to Congress. Also Deb Haaland from New Mexico got Capitol Hill.

Haaland is 57 years old, and she’s been elected for the 1st New Mexico District. On her Instagram profile, she define herself as Pueblo woman, Former Dem Party Chair, Proud UNM Lobo mom, Marathon runner, Gourmet cook. Also Haaland is a single mother from a Marine veterans’ family  (her father was buried in Arlington National Cemetery ‘cause he was a Silver Star Medal hero honored for his strenght in Vietnam’s war in 1967).

Another first-time man for american politics is Jared Polis, from Colorado. Polis it’s a democrat, philantropist, businessman and he was the very first declared gay man ever elected in US Congress. In fact in 2009 he was elected in the 2nd District of Colorado (about homosexuality in politics, we must remind Harvey Milk, the very first openly gay politician, killed in 1978 in San Francisco for his sex tendency). Jim McGreevy, former New Jersey governor, did outing during his mandate in 2004, and Kate Brown, Oregon’s governor from 2016, it’s the first LGBTQ exponent to be elected as a State’s governor (transexual Christine Hallquist, unfortunately, wasn’t elected in these Midterm elections in Vermont as State’s governor).

Governing the House isn’t a simple task for democrats, especially with a republican Senate and a repubican president, but their victory was really really important. 

Democrats need the rights number of chairs to submit the approval of some their important laws and decisions, for example in the health, but however the Blue Donkey party (democrats’symbol) got such an important victory. They won in some traditional republicans’ areas.

Democrats, now the House’s power, now have to pay attention to choose their struggles because republicans are still very strong.

Rurals and suburbs areas has send a clearly message with these elections: Trump’s presidency has to pay attention. General situation could change.

At Senate, democrats has earned 45 senators and loosed 2 chairs, while republicans got Senate’s majority with 51 senators.

 Senate has remained republican. Main political struggles were in the “traditional” republican areas, like Midwest, Deep South, or the “agrarian” States.

Let’s notice how “locally” doesn’t change a lot with these Midterm elections: democrats has “conserved” their States, like California, New Mexico, Virginia (where former vicepresident democratic candidate in 2016, Tim Kaine, won), llinois (Obama’s State, where J. B. Pritzker has became new governor after an expensive campaign), some parts of New England (except Maine and Vermont, where Bernie Sanders won again) New York and Massachusetts, historical democrats States.

Real “surprises” for democrats were the victories in the “precarious” States where sometimes the elections or the precidency was won or loosed at the very last moment: these States are Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. 

For republicans was the same, they conserved “their” States: basically Midwest but also Texas, won at the last minute by Ted Cruz, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi.

Red Elephant party (republicans) has confirmed itself as the Senate’s power, but for the governatorates struggles were very undecided and hard and not so sure as they could think before elections.

There were some conflicts won by republicans on a razor’s edge: for example in Florida, where former deputy Ron De Santis has won with 49,7% the democrat candidate Andrew Gillum, former Tallahassee mayor (also Obama in the past days has make endorsement for him), with 49%. De Santis has won but Gillum has won in some of the most important Florida’s parts like Miami, his Tallahassee, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville. The other example of election won by republicans on a razor’s edge was in Georgia, traditional republican South State, where the democrat black woman Stacey Abrams was running as candidate democrat governor. If she was elected, she would be become the first black woman to become governor in a South State (where discrimination against black people continue even today), but she loosed at the last moment despite the endorsement of star like Oprah Winfrey and the extended Georgia’s poll’s opening time. Republican Brian Kemp has won with 50,5% of votes (Abrams got 48% of votes).

In traditionally controvertial States like Florida, elections like this won by many candidates at the last minute with a few votes more than their rivals, many doubts and polemics are diffuse now about the elections legitimacy; let’s remind that in 2000 George Bush Jr has won the presidential elections even between so many discussions and insinuazioni by his rival, Al Gore, precisely in Florida.

These Midterm elections hasn’elected just new deputies, senators and governors: in their ballots, american citizens have to decide also for so many argues: there were 155 referendums.

Most of these referendums were about an actually social motion: health coverage.

After the approval of Obamacare (or Affordable Care Act) and the modification decided by Trump with a 2017 presidential executive order, health coverage it’s an actual social theme for all americans.

We have to remind that in US doesn’t exist a national healthcare system like in Italy: every american citizen has to pay personally for its health (and for its family’s health too) if the citizen want to be included in the healthcare treatments.

Americans has voted about many different themes: marijuana, abortation, expositizon of Ten Commandments in public (approved in Alabama). In California people has voted to reject a limit  for all the dyalisis infirms. In Nevada people has voted to reject taxation on health tampons, in Florida people has voted to reject dog struggles, in Oklahoma people had to decide if include eye-spends in the healthcare system.

Now, filed these Midterm elections, we just have to see how this new Congress will works under Trump’s presidency that clearly has gone to fix his power: a news of these last hours is that Trump has fired the Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his role the Russiagate and he’s hired Matthew G. Whitaker.