By Greg Horner, Staff Reporter.
As prices fluctuate and pundits speculate, Americans have begun to deal with the fallout of the Nov. 4th elections. In states across the country voters elected representatives to both state and national government. By the end of the night Republicans stood triumphant.
The GOP won the Senate for the first time in 8 years and expanded their control in the House of Representatives. In several key states such as Colorado and North Carolina, Democratic incumbents lost their seats.
Republicans dominated in Michigan as well. Governor Rick Snyder secured a second term by defeating his opponent Mark Schauer; while Republicans managed to maintain their majorities in the state’s closely contested state legislature. This was reflected in state legislatures across the country.
From Iowa to Arkansas, Democrats were defeated and many states are now completely controlled by the GOP. There are Republican governors in 31 states, and the party now controls more than two-thirds of the country’s state legislatures.
“It was disastrous for the Democrats, and the GOP nearly swept the board,” said Thomas Boudrot, Assistant Professor of Political Science. “The GOP actually won governorships in very reliable blue states such as Massachusetts and Illinois.”
According to Boudrot, while Democrats lost for several reasons, it was improved organization that led to Republicans’ success. “The Republicans stayed on message and avoided fielding bad candidates as they had in 2012.
While many Republicans believe this election was a response to the policies of President Obama; Ryan Petersen, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Delta, argues that this election was an attack on the status quo.
“Back when Bush was in power, voters did the same thing,” said Petersen, referring to 2006’s midterm election, when Democrats won both houses of Congress. “This election doesn’t represent a real shift toward the Republicans.”
Petersen warns Republicans against starting controversial fights as moderate voters might not support their more conservative policies, “The mistake the GOP could make is overstepping their bounds; they can’t go too far.”
With a Democratic president still in office it’s unlikely Republicans will be able to do much. Obama hasn’t changed his mind on the Affordable Care Act or forgotten last year’s budget crisis, and Republicans continue to campaign on resisting the President . Whether the two parties will agree to compromise on any issue remains to be seen.
And despite government shutdowns and interventions abroad, many voters didn’t seem to care about this election. According to projections done by the United States Election Project, Only 36 percent of Americans showed up on election day, and turnout in 2014 was the lowest it’s been since World War II.
Midterms have historically suffered from low turnout, but according to Delta Assistant Professor Robert Moore, some parts of the media didn’t do enough actual reporting on the election. “Many of the major networks devoted very little to coverage.”
Moore pointed to a report done by the Media Research Center, which compared the three major networks’ coverage of midterm elections of 2006 and 2014. The study concluded there was a 6 to 1 disparity in the number of stories the evening news covered during the respective election cycles.
“A lot of Americans still receive their news from those sources,” said Moore. “They still set the agenda for what most other organizations do.”
News organizations and voters may not have shown much interest in this year’s election, but the presidential election in 2016 has been long underway. Many news reports that covered this year’s midterm included speculation into possible 2016 candidates.
“The biggest winner besides the GOP may be Hillary Clinton,” said Boudrot. “The demoralized Democrats may rally around her to lead them to victory in the 2016 election given she is beating every potential GOP presidential hopeful.”
Ryan Petersen also suspects that Hillary Clinton will receive the Democratic nomination. As for the Republicans, Petersen thinks a familiar face could make it more interesting. “All my colleagues think I’m crazy, but I’ve heard a crazy rumor Mitt Romney might run again.”
In 2016 senators and congressman will also face election; Republicans hope this year’s greater than expected victory gives them a strong momentum heading into the 2016 presidential election. But with turnout expected to be much higher, there might be an entirely different electorate in two years.
