A Blue Nuclear Bomb

As a friend of mine said last night, “This was not just a blue tsunami. It was a blue nuclear bomb.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Last night’s midterm elections were extraordinary. While not every race went the way I had hoped, the overall results sent a powerful message to the Trump administration and the Republican Party. Americans are tired of the direction this country has been heading, and they made their voices heard at the ballot box.

The Senate races were particularly remarkable. Democratic victories in Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Georgia, Ohio, and Michigan demonstrated that even traditionally Republican states were not immune to the blue wave. Jon Ossoff’s victory in Georgia wasn’t even close, and Kansas elected its first Democratic U.S. senator in nearly a century. These weren’t simply victories in states Democrats were expected to win. They represented a fundamental rejection of the Republican Party’s current direction, even in places where Democrats have historically struggled to compete.

The governors’ races were more of a mixed bag. Democratic victories in Texas and Georgia were historic, and Democrats won several other governorships as well. However, Alabama, Florida, New Hampshire, and Vermont were disappointments. Even so, the fact that several of these races were far more competitive than expected was remarkable in itself. Alabama, in particular, remained undecided much longer than I would have imagined possible. Florida and Vermont’s outcomes became apparent earlier in the evening, but the margins in these races demonstrated just how much the political landscape has shifted.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about Phil Scott’s victory in Vermont. While I would have preferred a Democratic victory, Scott has long been a different kind of Republican, one who has shown a willingness to stand up to Donald Trump and put Vermont ahead of party loyalty. I don’t always agree with him, but I have considerably more respect for him than I do for most Republicans in elected office today.

Yet, of all the races across the country, there was one that meant more to me than any other. It was a congressional race in Alabama, and its outcome brought joyful tears to my eyes.

For most of my life, Alabama’s Second Congressional District was my home district. It was a reliably Republican district, and for years, the possibility of electing a Democrat seemed remote. That changed when federal court rulings forced Alabama to redraw its congressional map to better reflect the state’s racial makeup and give Black voters a fairer opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

Two years ago, Shomari Figures won the newly configured district, becoming its Democratic representative. At the time, the district’s population was approximately 48 percent African American. But Republicans in the Alabama legislature weren’t content to leave things alone. When the opportunity arose to redraw the congressional boundaries again, they attempted to reshape the district to favor a Republican victory. The new district reduced the African American population from 48 percent to approximately 40 percent, a significant change clearly intended to make it more difficult for a Democrat to win.

It didn’t work.

Shomari Figures didn’t just hold on to his seat. He won with approximately 53 percent of the vote.

Think about that for a moment. The legislature redrew the district, reducing its African American population by eight percentage points in an effort to make it more Republican, and Figures still won a decisive victory. Despite the efforts to redraw the district in the Republicans’ favor, voters in Alabama’s Second Congressional District elected Figures again. The legislature tried to engineer a different political outcome, but the voters had other ideas.

Perhaps the people of the Second District simply didn’t appreciate politicians attempting to choose their voters rather than allowing voters to choose their representatives.

I cannot adequately describe what that victory means to me. I grew up in Alabama. I spent much of my life watching a state that had once been dominated by Democrats become increasingly and overwhelmingly Republican. I watched elections in which Democratic candidates barely stood a chance, and I saw a political culture develop in which Republican victories were treated as inevitable.

To see the district I called home for so many years reject those expectations, particularly after the legislature attempted to make a Republican victory more likely, was deeply emotional. I know many people will look at the results from Alabama’s Second District and see just another Democratic congressional victory. For me, it was something much more personal. It was a reminder that Alabama is not politically hopeless, that its voters cannot always be taken for granted, and that even in the Deep South, change is possible.

Of all the remarkable victories last night, this was the one that meant the most to me.

Now comes the hard part.

With Democrats taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, they have an opportunity, and an obligation, to begin correcting the course this country has been on under the current administration. Winning elections is only the beginning. The American people need meaningful action that improves their lives, protects their rights, restores accountability, and reaffirms the principles of democracy.

Last night was an extraordinary rejection of the direction this country has been heading. But a blue wave, or even a blue nuclear bomb, means very little if those elected fail to use the power voters have entrusted to them.

The American people have spoken. Now it’s time for Democrats to listen, lead, and deliver.