It wasn’t a blue wave. It wasn’t even merely an indigo tsunami from voters appalled by corrupt candidates (see: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton), anti-Semites and racists (see: Georgia Rep. Mike Collins and Bo French), nepo babies (see: Sen. Darline Graham), credibly accused abusers (see: Rep. Max Miller), grifters, and charlatans (see: in many cases, all of the above). No, a Republican loss of a minimum of seven Senate seats — five of which were in states that President Donald Trump won by double digits in his second presidential victory — and at least 50 House seats was a proverbial middle finger from voters to the entire GOP.
The good news for Republicans is that a loss this catastrophic is too gravity-defying to ignore, write off as rigged, or blame on some factional pet project. Despite Vice President JD Vance’s claim that it was a product of the Iran war and that we should prioritize scapegoating Israel, just 4% of voters told exit pollsters that foreign policy was their top issue. And although the hosts of the Blaze spent election night blaming mass migration, that hardly explains a national wave that definitely flipped a Senate seat toward Democrats in Ohio (foreign-born population: 5.5%) and is on the cusp of doing so in Mississippi (foreign-born population: 2.5%).
