Why some campaigns fell short in a midterm election favoring Democrats

Well, political maps are reshaping this morning as the midterm election saw the balance of power shift to Democrats last night. Yeah, in a big way. Joining us to discuss some of the unsuccessful campaigns is Connie Mixon. She is professor of political science at Elmhurst College. Connie, welcome to the show. For the candidates who lost, the GOP candidates who lost seemingly across the board in the elections we just ran to, what do you think went wrong with their campaigns? Well, I think it's a larger national issue. This election really is a rebuke of the Trump administration, their actions, their policies. This is likely the best result that Democrats have had since 1974. And you only get a result this big because black voters in the South Hispanic voters in Texas, young voters in places like Michigan, hunters in Alaska, Maine, Minnesota, and farmers in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa all came together to say that what is happening at the federal level is just unacceptable. They see their lives as being worse than they were two years ago, and they believe it's government's job to make it better. I think you were spot on with that, AP is reporting this morning that according to an AP voter poll, young Hispanic black voters and other key demographics propelled some of those Democratic gains that we're seeing right now. So the question is, we're talking about young voters, maybe this is their first election that they're voting for, how do you keep those voters energized to continue being civically engaged? That's a tough one, right? And that's something that I deal with every single day is trying to get young people engaged in the political process and to continue to vote. We know that voting is a habit that is formed over a lifetime. And if you vote once, you're more likely to vote a second time, but it's not necessarily guaranteed. So the best we can do is try to make politics Civic engagement relevant to young people's lives. And what we are seeing, what some of the data is showing amongst young people is that amongst Generation Z, they're not loyal to one party or another. So maybe they voted for Trump in 2024. They didn't see that as working out for them. And they switched to Democrats in 2026. And that would stand to reason that if the Democrats can't get anything done in the next two years, maybe they'll flip back in 2028. Precisely. I mean, that's it, is that Democrats now have to deliver. And running for office and making promises is often easier than actually governing and delivering on those promises. So while Democrats will have the House and they'll have the Senate, Trump still has the veto. Yeah. Taking a look at yesterday's results, was there anything big that stood out to you as something that really surprised you? Are you surprised at, we talked about a blue wave happening with the polls and some of the prediction markets as well. Did you expect it to be as big as it was? I did not. I said early in the evening that, you know, it would be a good night if With Democrats. Won the House and had a chance at the Senate that it would be a great night if Democrats could get to the 230s in the House and it looks like they're going to exceed that by quite a bit and they're gonna have a decent majority in the Senate as well. And I mean, let's think ahead to 2028, I mean, what do these results mean for our country in two years? What does the national landscape look like? Well, I think it comes down to candidate quality. I mean, this is another big thing that I thought a lot about last night was the quality of the candidates for both parties matter. Republicans Picked candidates with a lot of baggage in states that they should have won easily. Paxton in Texas, for example, Darlene Graham in South Carolina, whereas Democrats recruited really strong candidates in key places like Ohio, Texas, Iowa. I want to specifically point out Kansas, Kansas. Kansas, a Democrat hasn't won in Kansas since 1932. Democrats put up a United Methodist church pastor, who I believe is the largest United Methodist church in the entire nation, who has connections across the state, a really, really strong candidate, against a Republican marshal who really struggled. There were even questions about whether he actually lived in Kansas. Many people in Kansas split their vote. They voted for Hamilton for Senate, and yet they voted for a Republican, perhaps for the House. So Democrats were quite successful in fielding candidates who could win. In red and purple states and candidates who also ran on basic kitchen table issues. Going back to the 90s, I still think it's the economy, stupid. That line still works. Mike Kaplan, our weather guy, just reminded us of that. I have to ask you this. If this were less imbalances than it was yesterday with this blue wave, it was more even. Would Donald Trump, would President Trump be able to handpick his successor? And is that not going to happen anymore after what happened yesterday? In 2028, will Donald Trump be able to have a lot of influence over who is the Republican nominee? Yeah, I mean, that's the question. I don't know that I have an answer, but if I were J.D. Vance, I might be a little worried right now. And we have also just reported that this Mississippi Senate race is within just a couple of really dozen votes. 70 something votes, yeah. How surprising is this? Any thoughts on Mississippi this morning? Huge surprise and Democrats were competitive in Louisiana and they won big in Texas and Mississippi very likely could go blue. The fact that Democrats were even competitive in some of these You know, really strong red southern states is a significant surprise. If you had asked me just, you know, a month ago if I thought Kansas, Nebraska would be in play. I would have said no, and certainly Mississippi, Louisiana were not on my radar whatsoever. Yeah, really interesting here that that Democrat Scott Collum has a razor-thin lead over his Republican opponent right now in Mississippi. Connie Mixon, thank you for being with us and that perspective. We appreciate it. Thank you.