The election happened less than two years after an astonishing 139 House Republicans (and eight Senate Republicans) voted to overturn the 2020 election. For generations, America set the global standard for free and fair elections. Then one man, Donald Trump, used the word “rigged” incessantly (before and after elections, and without evidence) and suddenly tens of thousands of dedicated election workers became suspect.

When the January 6 mob attacked the Capitol, spurred on by Trump, our cherished “peaceful transfer of power” process nearly failed. 

The midterm elections happened four months after Roe v. Wade was overturned, stripping American women of what had been a Constitutional right for a half-century.

For those and other reasons, Republicans should have been trounced at the polls. Instead, they received a limp slap on the wrist, and gained control of the House.