Bright spots for Democrats?

[Gren]

I should start by saying that I absolutely believe Biden will win the election, and that's the one thing that I really wanted to happen. Anyway, as some of you seem really disappointed today, I thought it would be interesting to highlight examples of Democrats performing well. This is my take on it:

The Northeast, from Maryland upwards (except for PA) has come out really strong for Biden. I'm very happy about the results in NH and ME, but also in the other traditionally D states.

The West Coast has also been great, OR has had a +6 D swing and WA a +8 D swing. CA seems to be having less of a swing, but I think the result there is very decent.

Results in VA and, especially, CO have been remarkable. They've almost become blue states now. That can only be good going forward.

Then, there's the results in the suburbs and some urban areas. Maybe some of you were expecting better performances, but I'm satisfied with the swings in NE's Sarpy (D+11), Douglas (D+9 D), and Lincoln (D+8); KS's Johnson (D+10) and Douglas (D+7); most counties in the Atlanta area; urban counties in NC; to name a few.

Hope you also share your views.

[Non Swing Voter]

That cities and big suburbs are continuing their trend strongly to Democrats.  Biden's probably going to win the popular vote by a much larger margin than Hillary and definitely a majority of the vote.

Like you said, CO and VA are now clearly blue states.  If you look at what happened in Virginia, the electorate got much more polarized.  Trump got massive margins in rural Virginia but Biden expanded the NoVa lead considerably.  As I thought he would he's hovering around 70% of the vote in Fairfax county.  He's probably gonna net well over half a million votes out of NoVa alone and there's still a lot of vote to be counted in urban areas. 

This does not bode well for Georgia and North Carolina's trajectory if you are the GOP.

What this means is that long term extremely conservative senators are going to be replaced with extremely liberal ones in the South.

I'd rather have that + moderate Republicans in the upper midwest going forward.

[Pick Up the Phone]

Thanks, I totally agree! I really don’t get this sense of disappointment - a narrow Biden victory (below 300 EVs) was always in the range of possible outcomes. As was a narrow Trump victory by the way. The really important thing is: Joe Biden is very likely to win this election and become the 46th President of the United States. Period. A senate majority would have been great, sure, but Trump leaving the White House is what really counts. I cannot stress this enough.

Aside from that, I think that Democrats did a great job in CO and New England. I’m also happy to see AZ (and possibly GA) finally turning blue.

[Gren]

I agree with both of you guys. I also forgot to mention that I thought the result in MN was very satisfying, particularly in the context of other Midwestern states being disappointing.

[It’s so Joever]

The bright spot is that this was a humiliating blow but Biden will still have a chance at winning.
That means we will be forced to reanalyze our failing party but also will at least get rid of the fascist (hopefully)

[Crumpets]

Even despite a collapse in Latino support for Democrats, Texas is still clearly a swing state going forward, and its EV numbers are only set to increase post-2020. Hard to see anything stopping that trend short of a fundamental rebuilding of the Republican Party - and even that would be good news. Ditto for Arizona.

[Lambsbread]

Flipping AZ and GA expands the coalition. NC was also close. I would say it's more pivotal to focus on GA/NC/AZ and move out to states like TX/OH later. FL/IA are deadweight.

[Xing]

Trump will lose, and that is still a bright spot, even if it's not the resounding rejection we were hoping for (and that it should have been.) The trends in AZ/GA are real, and even if Republicans hold both GA seats this year, clearly it's only a matter of time before at least one of those seats flip. While TX didn't happen, it's probably going to end up within 5%, and so it remains a ticking time bomb for Republicans, especially if they can't keep the ground Trump gained among Latinos. Also, while IA/OH are definitely gone, MI/PA/WI are clearly still winnable for Democrats, since they're probably all going for Biden despite Republicans showing up just about as much as Democrats. They're not states Democrats can take for granted (and it's a very good thing Biden didn't take MI/WI for granted this time), but they probably remain competitive, especially given that Trump saw further bleeding in the WOW counties (especially Ozaukee/Waukesha), despite some claiming that he would definitely do better there. I'd also say that for all the talk of blue states like OR/RI/VT becoming competitive soon for Republicans, tonight didn't suggest that those states are headed that way at all.

Now, these are reasons why Democrats are still viable in the future. That doesn't mean we aren't in for a disappointing few years first, or that we won't see some of these states vote Republican over the next couple of years.

[NerdyBohemian]

I think Biden gets a power level boost like in DBZ when saiyans survive a particularly brutal fight.

[T'Chenka]

Trump lost. That's the only bright spot. Dems are in disarray.

[Angel of Death]

Puerto Rico voting for statehood should be considered good news for them (whether it is acted on or not).

[Gren]

Trump lost. That's the only bright spot. Dems are in disarray.

That is nonsense.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

They kept the House, and likely to pick up the Senate in 2022, but with redistricting, the House is likely to fall in 2022..2021-2023 DP DH RS and 2023-2027 DP RH DS we are gonna see divided govt

[Orser67]

Agree with what some others have said so far about some of the trends looking pretty decent, and about getting Trump out of office. Also:

-Biden should be able to do some things just with executive power alone.

-Although we're not in a great position for redistricting, it almost certainly won't be as bad as 2010, and we have a fighting chance to hold the House in 2022

-Democrats have either 2 or 3 chances to gain a trifecta in the next four years: the GA run-offs (possibly), the 2022 mid-terms, and the 2024 elections. It's an uphill battle, but some hope of a trifecta is better than none.

[Catalyst138]

The talk of Minnesota shifting Republican is no more. Dems have a good base in that state.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

It looks like metro Phoenix swung hard to the Dems. Schweikert is probably the underdog and it'll be really, really hard to draw a red map in AZ if most of the precincts in Maricopa have Biden in the low 50s. Especially since his biggest underperformance is likely going to show up in very Democratic Southwest Maricopa.

[Hammy]

I was hoping the bright spot would be an end to Democrats' delusion and overconfidence and actually take a good hard look at their messaging, but this thread tells me otherwise

[GALeftist]

Colorado and Virginia confirmed Safe D for the foreseeable future, barring weirdness. I do not share the optimism about New England, however. It looks like more of a rejection of Trump than a D blowout; I think the GOP has a trifecta in NH and obviously Susan Collins won. Those trends aren't looking too hot.

However, I am pleasantly surprised by Georgia's closeness, which means there's at least a nonzero chance of a Democratic majority in the senate, though they're certainly the heavy, heavy underdogs. North Carolina was a big disappointment, as was Texas, but those trends are real, and the GOP is going to have to deal with them sooner or later. Also, I hope that hitting rock bottom in Florida lets us just abandon the state to its fate.

Similarly to Florida, I hope this puts to bed any delusions about Ohio and Iowa going forward. However, it looks like we at least stopped the bleeding in WI, MI, and PA, which is good since we need to continue to be competitive there in at least the near term. We performed well in MN, but didn't get a trifecta, which really hurts.

Finally, I hope that this chaos is a ladder for progressives in the party, because clearly something isn't working with these electability candidates. I also hope it encourages the Democrats to get their hands a little more dirty, because I am very tired of losing. My fondest wish is that these rubes who keep voting in droves for Trump are personally loyal to Trump and will abandon the GOP now that he's likely out of office, but I realize that it's just as possible that the suburbs were personally disloyal to him, and logically I think it's probably a wash.

[Roronoa D. Law]

The ceiling has been raised in many urban counted.

[Beet]

Most of these points are talking about margins in areas that were already blue; but when those don't translate downballot, like against Susan Collins, it means nothing. Those extra Biden voters in Maine clearly don't share the Democrats' goals.

To me a bright spot is where you actually win something or get something tangible. If the standard is moral victories, the Democrats' star is shining bright. Thirty points in California! But the reality of power and outcome is the bottom line.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

I mean, Joe Biden, aside from almost definately having won the election save for SC chicanery, is on track for what, 7-8% of margin once the West Coast and New York ballots are all in. That's a stunning rebuke for an incumbent government and in a functional democracy we would be asking whether the GOP will ever recover.

[DPKdebator]

Minnesota will still be a Democratic state for the short/medium term. Georgia continues its slow crawl towards the Democrats and away from the GOP. Arizona is hard to gauge since it's still got a good amount of votes to count but it appears to be continuing its trend to the left.

[GALeftist]

I mean, Joe Biden, aside from almost definately having won the election save for SC chicanery, is on track for what, 7-8% of margin once the West Coast and New York ballots are all in. That's a stunning rebuke for an incumbent government and in a functional democracy we would be asking whether the GOP will ever recover.

But what about the square feet of grass?? Who did they vote for, huh?!?!?!

[jamestroll]

The Democratic base is now a very engaged base and with Trump no longer around his supporters and rural surge may not matter as much for the 2022 midterms.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

The Democratic base is now a very engaged base and with Trump no longer around his supporters and rural surge may not matter as much for the 2022 midterms.

Nah, they'll turn out. The Senate GOP will neuter any attempt at economic stimulus and Biden and the Democrats will get the blame for it.