The Midterm Elections of 2018

From top to bottom: 
Wikipedia.org’s map of the 2018 schedule for U.S. Senate elections 
Among Democratic incumbent U.S. senators up for 2018 are 
Missouri’s Claire McCaskill and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin 
Former DNC chair and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida #23)
Info on Democratic U.S. House incumbents who—and who does not—support H.R. 676 (Medicare For All)

One year from today [Tuesday, November 6, 2018] are the midterm elections of 2018.

I could write “midterm congressional elections,” but not all election races are congressional. What also stands out are 36 states on the schedule for gubernatorial elections. Of those 36, nine are from the Top 10 populous states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, and Michigan. (The only exception is North Carolina. Its gubernatorial elections are held with presidential elections.)

Based on historical voting pattern, and the fact that the 17th Amendment (allowing direct elections of U.S. senators from states’ voters) dates back to the 1910s, there have been 26 midterm election cycles from 1914 to 2014. From that period, only three were won with overall gains by the White House party: 1934, 1998, and 2002. The remaining 23 were won by the opposition party. This means, based on historical voting pattern, and that the current Republican president Donald Trump has a job-approval percentage rating in the range of the 30s, that the midterms of 2018 should be won by the Democrats.

I have to admit that I don’t care to see the Democrats win the midterm elections of 2018. Oh, sure, let them gain in numbers—especially state houses—to reduce some of the overall Republican-dominated strength. (They are close to being able to change the U.S. Constitution.) But, with a corporate Democratic Party Establishment still in charge—after approximately 1,000 state legislature seats were lost during the presidency of Barack Obama (and he bears some of that responsibility)—I would say that this is due either to incompetence or corruption. Some would say it is a combination of both. But, I lean more toward corruption.

Why corruption? It is money in politics. It is the No. 1 problem with U.S. politics. It is why we have the brands of politics for today’s two major political parties. It is why we have the policies.

Citing which particular Democratic incumbents I don’t care to see get re-elected can feel pointless. That is because I am trying to figure out who I want re-elected. Well, re-election for U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii #02) immediately springs to mind. And, if I wasn’t working on a timeline to get this published (I’m writing this on Sunday, November 5, 2017), I would cite more. (However little more.) It would just be easier for me to list a few Democratic incumbents who really need to go. The reasons have to do with how they vote. (It is also urgent that the ones not on board for Medicare For All to exit the upper chamber.) These names are not listed in order of importance. I am citing, in alphabetical order, five from the U.S. Senate and five from the U.S. House. (This list is certainly not sufficient. And I invite readers to list more names.)


U.S. Senate

• Maria Cantwell (D-Washington)
• Dianne Feinstein (D-California)
• Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia)
• Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri)
• Jon Tester (D-Montana)

U.S. House

• Henry Cuellar (D-Texas #28)
• Ruben Kihuen (D-Nevada #04)
• Dan Lipinski (D-Illinois #03)
• Nancy Pelosi (D-California #12)
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida #23)

Reminder: Beginning today [Monday, November 6, 2017], Progressives Chat will have blog topic threads on Mondays, Wednesdays, and “Open Weekend” and “Music Weekend” threads on Fridays. This three-per-week will play out until the remainder of 2017 (with respect for November and December commonly being busier months because of the holidays). 

Additional note: Just yesterday [Sunday, November 5, 2017], I added a “Recommendations” tag which appears on the right-side column and is available with the full-screen format. (I did not see it appear in mobile form.) —Candy83