Election Result Surpises

Today was the midterm elections and overall it wasn't anything like what we expected.  First, Doug and I had a hard time voting in person.  The backup at the community center was ridiculous.  It wasn't because they were overrun with voters, but because they cut down the amount of poll workers checking ids to only two people.  It took way too long to get through the line.  Doug decided to wait it out, but I gave up right away and went to Milford to vote.  Thankfully, it was a lot less crowded.  The ten minutes that I spent there in line would have easily been an hour in Syracuse.  

Brett spent election day campaigning outside of a polling area.  He said that it was pretty slow overall, but was glad to do it.  He was definitely tired when the voting booths closed.  He had been up since 4 a.m. as he wanted to attend the Monroe County Republican party breakfast before his day started.  The night didn't quite go how he wanted.  The good news was that the person that he had campaigned for the most, Dave Hall, won.  The bad news was that he was the only Republican in Monroe County to win.  Brett was very disappointed that all of the party's hard work in that area hadn't made much of a difference.  Brett wasn't the only one disappointed tonight.  Kosciusko County had once again elected a sheriff that had ties to corruption and Doug's friend, Brian Weideman lost his bid for school board.  We were said to read both.

Nationally, it was a very strange election.  For the past month, all we had heard was that the Republicans would win big in this midterm election.  In fact many reporters were saying that it would be a "tidal wave" of new Republican seats, especially in Congress.  By the end of the night it was apparent that the Republicans hadn't even made a ripple in the tide pool of elections.  Many races were too close to call and most wouldn't be decided for days.  No one was sure which party would control the House or the Senate.  The only good news for Republicans was that Florida had switched from a swing state to all red as Ron DeSantis won his bid for Governor easily.

The biggest take on the night for me was that Democrats are united on two topics - Pro Choice and Anti-Trump.  I wish that more people had looked at what I feel are the two biggest problems affecting our country - crime and the economy.  Inflation is out of control and the price of everyday items have almost doubled in the past year.  Crime has increased as well.  Just this afternoon someone was shot at the Concord Mall.  Inflation and crime are the two issues that affect my family on a daily basis.  I wish that politicians would unite to solve those two problems instead.