In general I have faith in the voters to do the right thing, or something relatively close to it. Even though I think that the Democratic Party has gone almost completely nuts, nonetheless in the recent Democratic sweep I think I can see a perspective that some sensible voters might have, and that could have brought about the result, at least as to the congressional races: There was a huge element of Trump fatigue, not necessarily with his policies, but definitely with his demeanor, and with his constant pursuit of his own personal interest, from the crypto profiteering, to the pardon free-for-all, to the sale of watches, and much more. Even if these things do not qualify as prosecutable corruption, voters are completely allowed to take them into account when evaluating his presidency. Some congressional push-back might not hurt.
But then there were the many state and local races, where there was no direct or obvious Trump connection. Democrats also did extremely well in those, including taking (or maintaining) control of numerous governorships, legislatures, and mayor’s offices. In many of those, I can’t come up with any rational explanation for how the voters chose as they did. Maybe you can.
Consider some examples:
Mayor of Los Angeles — Nithya Raman
Although the vote counting is still not complete, last evening the incumbent far-left Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass conceded the race to her even-farther-left opponent, Nithya Raman. With Raman’s election, all three of the nation’s largest cities now have mayors from the most remote left extreme of the Democratic Party. Raman joins New York’s Zohran Mamdani as an out member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Brandon Johnson of Chicago has not formally joined that group, but is closely aligned.
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