A friend of mine in Italy asked what last night's election meant, an election that saw Democrats retake control of the House and Senate, and — after taking a second to think it all through — the way I put it to her was like this: if one were to truly start undoing the work of Trump, this is what the foundation would look like.
Because how else would you explain nearly all of Texas going blue? South Carolina? Susan Collins losing her seat? Louisiana nearly flipping? Mississippi (as of this writing) still being too close to call? A statewide result that Steve Kornacki called ‘absolute carnage’ for North Carolina Republicans? For the past two years, the work of DOGE and the work of redistricting were all in service of greater Republican control while the current administration consistently sought what’s known as an ‘autocratic breakthrough.’ For the past ten years, we have watched a not insignificant portion of the body politic (to say nothing of the Supreme Court and business community at large) move towards an acceptance of a fever dream of a kind of fascism.
The result? People posting ‘I Voted!’ stickers on memorials for Renee Good, Alex Peretti, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, all killed by ICE. A rejection of data centres across the country. The election of the first black female governor in our nation’s history. The election of the first Native American Senator and Governor in our nation’s history. Relentless anti-transgender messaging simply being … ignored. People responding to Barack Obama interpreting the election as a ‘reflection of a desire for unity’ with — essentially — ‘Actually, no, we want accountability.’ (Consider: the newly elected Attorney General in Texas quite literally campaigned on investigating Elon Musk.)
This call for accountability aligns with how Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia framed his Senate race and how national public opinion polling followed. (Eight percent of voters were concerned with corruption in December of 2024. Though it depends on what polling you look at, it rose to being the top issue of a CNBC poll at the close of the race as Trump’s own actions during this stretch kept the issue alive.)
Other signs that accountability seems to be forming as well: Senator Wyden from Oregon has signaled that subpoenas will be on the way. Representative Robert Garcia of California echoed the sentiment, saying, “Lawyer up.” However, Hakeem Jeffries — the first potential black Speaker of the House — has offered mixed messaging: while he has signaled an interest in accountability, he also spoke this morning of a lack of interest in retribution, which — depending on how you parse the difference between words like ‘accountability’ and ‘retribution’ — could well put him against voters.
The new Congress will be seated in January.