A BLUE TSUNAMI
By Nick Dazang
In 2022, and with an eye fixed on the 2024 Republican presidential ticket, Donald Trump supported a bevy of candidates. He promoted the myth of an impending red wave for that year’s midterm elections. As it turned out, it was a red wave that never was. The myth of Republican invincibility was exploded. And his candidates were trounced.
In this year’s midterm elections, and perhaps still basking in the glow of his historic 2024 comeback, President Trump pleaded with American voters to view Republican candidates as if they were voting for him and to vote en masse for them. For good measure, he campaigned very hard and made himself the focus of the elections.
By Wednesday, 4th November 2026, when most of the results were announced, however, the Democrats had won 54 Senate seats and 240 House seats to the Republicans’ 44 Senate seats and 147 House seats. It was a comprehensive defeat.
Though the Democrats were projected to win the Senate and the House, the depth and breadth of their victory went beyond their earlier calibrations. The Democrats won in Kansas. Kansas last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1932, nearly 100 years ago. They also won in South Carolina. The last time Democrats accomplished such a feat in South Carolina was in 1988. Additionally, the Democrats won the governorship of Texas. The last Democrat to be elected Governor of that State was Ann Richards in 1991.
Most analysts, including Republican sympathizers, see the outcome of the elections beyond a Democratic or blue wave. They view it as a seismic event which will in turn alter the course of American politics for decades to come.
Even though President Trump has failed to take responsibility for his party’s dismal performance in the elections, arguing that, “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”, most Americans put the blame squarely on his doorstep.
Bill Miller, a long time Republican lobbyist in Texas told the BBC: “It’s on him. It’s not on any body else. It’s a total, complete rejection of President Trump”. Republican strategist, Gregg Peppin, stated: “Clearly, in state after state, people did not like the president’s policies.”
Most Americans were angry with the rising cost of living and gasoline. Not a few Americans view the war with Iran as a betrayal after he had vowed to take the country out of what he referred to as “forever wars”. Rod Drehrer, a conservative journalist and a friend of Vice President J.D. Vance, underscored this feeling of betrayal in an interview with Radio 4’s TODAY program.
Former President Barack Obama, who campaigned for his Democratic Party and its candidates, was scathing: “After two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence, the likes of which we have not seen in the modern era, you get to say, ‘Enough is Enough’”.
Historically, most American Presidents come out bruised by midterm elections. In the modern era, and since World War II, only two Presidents – Bill Clinton and George W. Bush – have survived midterm elections unscathed and even gained some House of Representatives seats. In 1988, on Clinton’s watch, Democrats gained five (5) House seats while in 2002, arising from the September 11 attacks, Republicans gained eight (8) House seats under George W. Bush.
No matter how hard he tries to distance himself from this elaborate rout, the buck stops on President Trump’s table. The defeat also appears to foreclose his Vice President, J.D. Vance’s presidential victory in 2028.
Like the 2022 midterm elections which bequeathed some takeaways, this year’s has thrown up quite a number. Apart from dislodging the Republicans from strongholds and constituencies where they held sway for decades, a Muslim, Abdul El-Sayed, from Michigan, has been elected to the Senate for the first time in U.S. history. Also, Keisha Lance Bottoms, is the first black woman in United States history to be elected Governor. Bottoms won the election as Governor of Georgia despite relentless attacks and a billionaire opponent.
Additionally, not less than fourteen Nigerian-Americans have won local elections across the ten States of: Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Connecticut, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington.
If the elections had their peculiarities, they threw up a poignant and telling irony. If it is accepted that midterm elections are a referendum on the performance of a sitting president, then they represent an indictment of the performance of President Trump. But the painful irony, not lost on many, is that whereas America’s war with Iran failed to engender a regime change in Iran, the midterm elections nearly overthrew the administration in Washington, courtesy of America’s war with Iran. Little wonder, there is celebration in the streets of Tehran.
Even if Trump’s government has not been overthrown, outright, it will certainly not enjoy the free rein or roller coaster ride it had when the Republicans controlled Congress. Already, Hakeem Jeffries, who is likely to be the next Speaker, and who refers to the administration unflatteringly as the “Trump Cartel”, has vowed: “We are going to hold the crooks accountable”.
The midterm elections speak to the resilience of the American people and the tenacity of purpose of the Democrats. The results demonstrate that the American people were not prepared to countenance the shenanigans of the Trump administration and his Republican fellow-travelers. By the same token, the Democrats showed uncommon heft in mobilizing and channeling the anger of the American people to secure a victory beyond their wildest imagination. Even Trump, the Narcissist-in-Chief, acknowledged that the Democrats worked hard and that they deserved to win.
In spite of huge sums deployed by such deep pockets as Elon Musk, who shelled out $500 million to the Republicans, their efforts came to nought.
Will Nigerian politicians, especially the ones in opposition, be inspired by the performance of the Democrats in the midterm elections as they race towards the 2027 General Elections? Will Nigerians draw from the resilience of the American people by standing for principles and voting for candidates that can perform instead of selling their votes to the highest bidder? Will our politicians be guided by the fact that tenacity of purpose and couching messages that resonate with ordinary folks pay in the end? Will our political class appreciate that delivering on promises is the way to go and that failing to do so has consequences? Were the governing party to lose as the Republicans did, would they have the courage and grace to admit defeat as Trump did?
