Pollsters and reporters promised there’d be a pro-Democratic “blue wave” in the 2018 midterm elections. What we got instead was more like an aggressive ripple.

Democrats won a House majority with perhaps a ten-seat cushion. But the GOP also boosted its holdings in the Senate and held on to key governorships in hotly targeted races. It was hardly a blowout for either side, and one would be hard pressed to see this election cycle as a clear vindication of either party.