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Yesterday there was some talk about a “Red Mirage” resulting from how absentee ballots are counted in a number of states. It is a real, if frustrating and unnecessary phenomenon. There is literally no reason it should take a long time to count votes in the 21st century, when we all carry supercomputers in our back pocket. Ed wrote a great piece about this and, as usual, it is spot on.

God I love Ed.

But there is another kind of “Red Mirage”–those “purple” states that Republicans keep hoping will turn Red, and yet never do.

I live in one such state, and it is torture. Republicans can run great candidates and we lose. We can run horrible candidates, and we lose. We literally were the only state in the whole frick’n country to vote against Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Granted, Walter Mondale was on the ticket, and Minnesotans love us some Mondale. But still. C’mon, man!

A lot has changed since then, but we still love us some socialists even today. In fact, our current crop of Dems are much more socialist that the old line Democrats.

The 2022 elections were yet another example of a blown opportunity to pick up some seats. Republicans keep acting like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football. We only had one race of national significance–Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District–but despite huge money flowing into the state on both sides of the aisle, the Democrats wound up winning big.

This in a seat that only 4 years ago was held by a Republican, in an area that until recently was reliably Republican. It only went Blue in 2018, but incumbent Angie Craig won it this year by a 5 points. Expect this seat to be in Democrat hands for a long time.

Overall, though, our state is split 4-4 in Congress, mainly along rural vs urban/suburban lines. Despite the economic headwinds the Democrats lost no ground with suburban voters. Abortion–the only serious issue driving Blue votes as far as I can see–appeared to be the motivating factor.

The statewide race everybody was watching was for Attorney General. Keith Ellison–a candidate with a long history in radical politics–was actually expected to lose his race, and he only won it in a squeaker.

Ellison was thought vulnerable–was vulnerable–because of the spike in crime and violence in the state. A Soros-backed candidate, with a political history that goes back to a stint in the Nation of Islam, he morphed into  Left-wing radical activist.  He built an alliance with the progressive wing of the Democrats, and was a supporter of Ilhan Omar who took his seat when he left to become AG.

Ellison was a Democrat who you would have expected to have lost in a bad election year. He didn’t.

Republicans also lost control of the Minnesota State Senate, and failed in their attempt to take back the State House of Representatives. Both were known to be in play–the Senate because redistricting was not great for Republicans, and the House because the political environment was supposed to be tough for Democrats.

Republicans have won both Houses in recent years, and had the predicted wave arrived they would likely have won one or both. Instead, they couldn’t manage either.

Minnesota is likely a victim of the “great sort.” As the state remained unfriendly to Republicans, they decided to move to greener pastures. Texas and Florida have become the preferred destinations for our emigrants, and I see no reason to believe that trend won’t accelerate.

Where this matters most, of course, is the US Senate. Republicans used to have decent chances to win Minnesota Senate seats, but each year that becomes less likely. Amy Klobuchar’s electoral success is easy to predict–she fits the state well–but her seat mate Tina Smith should have been vulnerable. She is far Left, yet she won by 5 points in 2020 against my friend Jason Lewis.

Minnesota will continue to be considered a “purple state,” but the Red mixed with the blue may indeed be the result of a mirage. I see no prospects of a swing to the Right any time soon. If the George Floyd riots, inflation, huge increases and crime, and a COVID lockdown regime that hurt kids badly couldn’t do it, I am not sure what could.

I take comfort in many things, though. Politics is and should be just a slice of one’s life. Oddly enough, as I have aged one of the key quality of life factors for me has been the excellent medical care available here–unmatched in most of the world. We have the Mayo Clinic (too liberal, of course), and some of the best doctors in the world, That counts for a lot.

And the people are generally nice, and I am told that our cultural life is vibrant. As a homebody that is nice to know, but matters little to me to my eternal shame. Don’t tell anybody I am a philistine. I try to keep that a secret.

I met my wife here. I have friends here. I like my neighbors. These things, ultimately matter more than who sits in office. I will continue to fight, usually lose the battles, and yell at clouds occasionally. But life goes on, God is good, and politics isn’t everything.