A good, but not great, night for the GOP

I remember midterms when I was in college.

Not nearly as terrifying as finals, because finals were, like, final, while if you crashed the midterm, you had time a) to recover before the finals or b) time to drop the course and claim and incomplete rather than an F.

In college I found that studies got in the way of me running the college newspaper. This explains why I graduated with a mediocre GPA (grade point average) but with a gold key for service. In my field, journalism, the experience was more important than anything I might have learned in geology, or Spanish. Although I admit Spanish would be handy today.

I probably didn’t know as much midterm elections as I did when I started writing about politics and politicians. 

General Rule of Thumb: The party with the White House loses congressional seats. Almost always true and it appears to be true in 2022, although there are some races that have been projected but not called.

As you know, all eyes are on Pennsylvania (and Arizona, and Georgia) where the choices are between Democrats and election-denying Republicans.

In Philadelphia, the turnout (mail and in-person) was a low 40%, despite the Democrats’ hysteria about this being an election that could destroy democracy. Sigh. Did Philly fail to deliver enough votes to create a margin of victory?

With half the Philly votes counted in the U.S. Senate race, Democrat John Fetterman, the stroker, was crushing Republican Mehmet Oz, the New Jerseyan, 80.91 to 17.39. Oz captured a ward in South Philadelphia and three in the Far Northeast. 

In the race for governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro captured 84.30% of the vote, laughing at the 14.49% secured by Doug Mastriano, who did not win a single Philadelphia ward.

But we know Philadelphia is perhaps the bluest city in America, but does not square with the rest of the Commonwealth.

Out yonder, the results are very different.

Statewide, Fetterman has 49.5 % to Oz’s 48%, with about 70% of the vote counted. Eventually, Fetterman squeaked out a victory.

Again, Shapiro is even stronger — 56.83% to Mastriano’s 41.48%. As I prepared to file, Shapiro was declared the winner. Election-denier Mastriano got wrecked. 

Each Democrat received about five times the number of mail votes as the Republican.

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From races across the country, it seems like a hefty win for the GOP — less than a wave, more than a ripple.

I was particularly interested in the Georgia Senatorial contest between the wife beater, Democrat Rafael Warnock, a minister, and the abortionist, Republican Herschel Walker, a Heisman Trophy winner and Donald J. Trump’s Black friend.

As the hour grows late, these two may wind up in a December runoff.

Also of interest to me, was the Ohio Senatorial contest between moderatenDemocrat Tim Ryan, and Trump-endorsed author J.D. Vance. With two-third of the votes counted, Vance was leading 53.7% to Ryan’s 46.3%, a lead that might be too large to overcome.

In Georgia, with two-thirds of the votes counted, incumbent Republican Governor Brian Kemp had 53.9% of the vote, while Democratic romance novelist Stacey Abrams had 45.4%. The race was called in Kemp’s favor, and for a change, Abrams conceded. (Kemp was opposed by Trump.) 

With almost half the votes in, New York state is giving 59.2% to incumbent woke Gov. Kathy Hochul, against her Republican challenger, Lee Zeldin, 41%, who had closed to within a few points in recent weeks.

My takeaway is that crime is not as bad as Republicans say, and abortion is not as important as Democrats say.

Other results that caught my eye:

§ Democrat Charlie Crist lost his bid to unseat Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, and became the first Florida politician to lose as a Democrat, Independent, and Republican. The trifecta.

§ The Jan. 6 hearings seemed to have zero effect on this election. 

§ Sarah Huckabee Sanders has become governor of Arkansas, a job her dad used to hold. She is a Republican and not a lesbian.

§ Maura Healey is a Democrat, and the first out lesbian to be elected governor of Massachusetts. 

§ Gay incumbent Democrat Jared Polis was re-elected governor of Colorado.

§ Democrat Wes Moore became the first Black governor of Maryland, a former slave state.

§ Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA caseworker, was considered vulnerable but won, perhaps because she criticized her party for going too far left.

Filed at 11:24 p.m. Updated at 2:30 a.m.