Can the Democrats ever win the Senate?

Things aren't going to get any easier for the left in 2020 — or 2022

Christinas World.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Peter Barritt / Alamy Stock Photo, emyu/iStock, Wikimedia Commons)

Democrats had a lot to celebrate on Tuesday. First and foremost, they recaptured the House, and in so doing defeated a number of incumbents in Trump country, from New York's 11th Congressional District to Oklahoma's 5th. They won a number of important gubernatorial contests, particularly in Midwestern states like Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and even deep-red Kansas. And they continued the crucial process of rebuilding the party at the local level, winning control of several state legislative chambers.

Democrats didn't win everything they hoped or expected; they lost the Florida, Ohio, and Iowa gubernatorial elections, for example. But you can't win 'em all, especially in a time of notable prosperity. And even the darkest spot on the Democrats' 2018 record, the loss of multiple Senate seats, can be excused on the grounds of an extremely difficult map.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Noah Millman

Noah Millman is a screenwriter and filmmaker, a political columnist and a critic. From 2012 through 2017 he was a senior editor and featured blogger at The American Conservative. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Politico, USA Today, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Modern Age, First Things, and the Jewish Review of Books, among other publications. Noah lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.