Country comes to no consensus

Allyson Bonhaus, Editor-in-Chief|November 7, 2018

Allyson Bonhaus

LET’S STAND TOGETHER. Supporters of both sides of the District One race, those for the incumbent and winner Steve Chabot and for the Democratic challenger Aftab Pureval. Some SHS seniors volunteered to run the election polls like Lydia Cooke. “It was fun to be involved in the election even though I can’t vote. But also it was a huge waste of 15 hours of my life but I guess it was worth it,” Cooke said.

Neither of the political sides secured their blue/red wave. Not even Ohio delivered a unified message- incumbent Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown kept his seat, Republican Mike DeWine won the governor’s position, and both District One and Two went red.

In Ohio’s First Congressional district, incumbent and Republican Steve Chabot won against Democratic challenger Aftab Pureval. One factor of his strong win was the Republican-heavy addition of Warren County to Ohio’s First Congressional District. According to Cincinnati.com, Chabot won the County by a 33,000 vote margin.

In Ohio’s Second Congressional district, Republican Brad Wenstrup won his reelection.

Democrats took the House of Representatives while the Senate keeps the Senate. This spells for difficulty passing anything- Donald Trump and Democrats will both face challenges when trying to push their agenda.

So, neither a blue nor red wave took Congress. Both sides faced some tough losses, especially Democrats in the Georgia governor’s race, with Stacey Abrams behind Brain Kemp, and the Florida’s governor’s race among other races. Meanwhile, Republicans lost between 32-36 House of Republican seats.

Yet, a wave may have come anway. ABC News claims a “pink wave” may have come. At least 101 women were elected to Congress, 86 Democrats and 15 Republicans.

Many firsts did occur in this election. From women of color to LGBT members, Democrats were elected in huge margins relatively, as no more than 84 women have ever sat in the House of Representatives (435 seats total).

Multiple firsts occurred on Nov. 6, including the first refugee elected to Congress, first Native American elected to Congress, first woman Senator from Tennessee, first openly gay man elected governor and so many more.

According to the ABC preliminary exit polls, women also showed in the voting precincts, measuring 53 percent of the vote, a record midterm high (though close to 2010’s turnout).

With 78-20 saying that is it important to elect women to Congress, opinion polls echoed the possible “pink wave.”

Not only women, but the younger generation came to the polls as well, with new voters accounting for approximately 17 percent of the vote, according to CBS News.

Notable is an issue that was passed in Florida: the re-enfranchisement of felons, adding 1.4 million to the eligible voter pool. Time will tell with what this does to the Republican majority in Florida.

For now, the country braces for the coming stall in Congress as final numbers roll in.

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