The story is pretty simple. There was no “Red Wave.” It was a red trickle. A red puddle. Republicans failed to sweep through the nation like a wildfire.
Chris Hayes breaks it down.
Abortion consistently showed up in exit polls as a top issue. In the five states that put the issue of Abortion on the ballot — votes in favor of Reproductive Rights won. Even in Montana. Even in Kentucky.
Republicans ran in “Inflation” when frankly the ability to impact and control inflation does not exist in the White House or Congress. They ran on “Crime” when in fact crime has been rising in Red States, and Progressive Prosecutors were massively re-elected. They ran on “closing the border” when the fact is that under Biden an average of 3 times as many migrants have been apprehended and stopped from entering the country. And they also ran on the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election was magically “stolen” without leaving a single trace. This result is something that I specifically predicted because all the polls showed things were in a dead heat.
All of their rationales were counterfactual. Is it really a surprise they didn’t win?