The political equivalent of an asteroid strike hit the Grand Old Party on Tuesday night. A blue wave tore through traditionally red strongholds, flipping the governorships in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, and other red-leaning states, and handing Democrats control of both houses of Congress with significant majorities. The Republican Party was handed an unmistakable, undeniable mandate for course correction.
Yet, as the smoke clears, the finger-pointing from Washington’s reigning populists has already begun. President Donald Trump is unsurprisingly attempting to avoid any blame for the losses, and Wednesday Vice President JD Vance rushed to blame the electoral route almost exclusively on the Iran war and America’s relationship with Israel. He conveniently ignored the severe economic headwinds created not only by the war’s impact on gas prices, but by the administration’s aggressive tariff regime and trade war with Canada, and voters’ concerns over corruption in the White House. Per the exit polls, the economy and government corruption ranked at the top of voters’ priorities. If Republicans want to understand what went wrong, and more importantly how to survive, they should look to the one major red state that stood like a lighthouse in a hurricane: Florida.
