Although the final results for the U.S. midterm elections have yet to be finalized, it's abundantly clear that the polling and punditry declaring that this was going to be a massive 'red wave' have turned out to be incorrect. What seems more accurate is a 'red ripple' or a 'purple wave'.
This is because voters did punish Democrats at the ballot, however, they were careful not to reward Republicans who were engaged in election denial. Therefore, we saw results like in Georgia where Governor Brian Kemp outperformed Senate candidate Herschel Walker by more than 20 points. That Senate race is going to a runoff and the races in Arizona and Nevada are also too close to count, although Democrats are slightly favored in both.
Overall, it's looking like Democrats will pick up 1 Senate seat, while Republicans will narrowly re-take control of the House of Representatives. However, that also will prove to be filled with incredible drama as the Republicans having control of the House by such a small figure will mean that every member will have massive influence, and it will be difficult to pass any legislative accomplishments. There is already talk of replacing current Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy with someone who might appeal to more conservative House Freedom Caucus members.
While the MAGA wing of the Republican Party was losers, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party also came out losers as this caucus will have much less influence given the election's results and the Democrats losing their majority. Additionally, areas with crime as a major motivating factor saw gains made by Republicans like in New York and New Jersey. This is the inverse of areas where 'democracy' was the major concern of voters which saw Republicans lose seats.
Winners were more moderate Republicans and Democrats who rejected election denialism and focused on bread-and-butter issues like crime and inflation. Another beneficiary is likely to be Ukraine as there is unlikely to be any change in policy given its support among moderate Republicans and Democrats.
The reality of this election is that both sides had a combination of impressive victories and sobering defeats. In Florida, Republicans have taken complete control of the state at nearly all levels due to Democrats losing support among Hispanics. They made big strides in blue states like New Jersey and New York.
Democrats flipped the governorship and control of state houses and are likely to retain control of the Senate. Similar to Florida, they have complete control in states like Michigan and Colorado which are both purple states. They also did better than bleak expectations on Tuesday morning which automatically boosts spirits. In fact, this could be the best showing by an incumbent Party since George W Bush in 2002 who benefitted from a patriotic surge in support following 9/11.