You’re reading The Weekly, a Saturday morning recap of the best Dispatch content of the week, with some additional commentary from Managing Editor Rachael Larimore.
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You → read → Larimore
Two years after Donald Trump swept back into the White House by promising lower prices, $2 gas, and “no more wars,” voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a Republican Party that sat by as Americans endured a tariff-driven higher cost of living and gas prices that shot past $4 a gallon thanks to a war begun by the president.
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that → sweep → president
Not every race has been called—California takes its sweet time counting, and Alaska counts ballots that arrive as late as November 18—but we knew before midnight on election night that Democrats were en route to a historic victory.
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Democrats → call → victory
As it stands, Democrats have a 54-44 advantage in the Senate, with tight races in Alaska and Mississippi.
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Democrats → stand → Alaska
In the House, NBC News projects the Democrats will have an 83-seat majority.
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Democrats → project → majority
The most surprising shift came in Texas.
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shift → come → Texas
Before Election Day, polls showed a close race in the high-profile Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton, the state’s scandal-ridden attorney general, and Democrat James Talarico.
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polls → show → Paxton
Given how many times Democrats have gotten their hopes up over the possibility of winning a Senate or gubernatorial race only to fall short, few would have been surprised if Paxton had squeaked out a victory.
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Paxton → give → victory
But not only did Talarico win, he beat Paxton by 12 points.
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he → win → points
And he had plenty of company: Gina Hinojosa upset incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott; Democrats won races for railroad commissioner, land commissioner, and agriculture commissioner; and Democrats are poised to take over the state Board of Education.
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Democrats → have → Education
Ryan Rusak, a longtime Texas political journalist, chalked up the losses to bad candidate selection, a focus on the wrong issues, and a bad national environment.
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Rusak → chalk → issues
He wrote:
Even the better politicians campaigned as if head colds prevented them from hearing voters beyond the MAGA base.
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colds → write → base
To hear Republican candidates, the top issues in Texas were transgender policies and the potential imposition of Sharia law.
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issues → hear → law
Gov. Greg Abbott made a half-hearted effort to campaign on cutting property taxes.
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Abbott → make → taxes
But if longtime officeholders had ideas to reduce Texans’ skyrocketing health and home insurance costs, bring down the price of gas, and make housing more affordable, they didn’t emphasize them
Similar scenarios played out elsewhere.
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scenarios → have → them
Here in Ohio, Democrat Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy in the governor’s race, and former Sen. Sherrod Brown beat Sen. Jon Husted in a special election for the seat Vice President J.D. Vance vacated in 2025.
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Vance → defeat → 2025
I noticed a remarkable stat from the New York Times: Nearly every county in Ohio, even those that voted for Ramaswamy and Husted, shifted left by more than 10 points, often up to 20.
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that → notice → 20
And it wasn’t just the aforementioned economic issues and specific examples of bad candidates like Paxton and Ramaswamy, who sunk his own campaign with an attack ad featuring Acton’s own estranged mother.
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who → sink → mother
John McCormack took a look at the exit polls and found that the economy was a big deal, but so was corruption and concerns about our governance.
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corruption → take → governance
He wrote:
Asked to identify the most important issue facing the country, the economy came in first among 39 percent of the electorate (with the state of democracy in second at 33 percent, and immigration third at 14 percent—no other issue cracked double digits). Just 27 percent of voters said Trump’s policies have improved economic conditions, while 66 percent said his policies have worsened economic conditions.
The election was about much more than just the economy, of course. Fifty-five percent of voters said government corruption was “crucial” to their vote, while 49 percent said the same about the cost of living.
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percent → write → living
Thirty-six percent cited immigration, 34 percent the Iran war, and 23 percent data centers.
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percent → cite → immigration
In light of the thorough beating, Michael Warren asked an obvious but important question in his newsletter, Next Right: Where do Republicans go from here?
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Republicans → ask → newsletter
He wrote:
A less devastating loss in the midterms might have allowed the recalcitrant MAGA dead-enders to convince the party to stay in line behind Trump.
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enders → write → Trump
That seems nearly impossible now, given how much capital—monetary and political and reputational—Republicans spent on behalf of the Trump project, and with so frustratingly little to show for it.
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Republicans → seem → it
Trump’s days as a troublemaker for the GOP may not be quite over, but his relevance to a party suddenly grasping for it in this new political landscape has waned considerably overnight.
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relevance → grasp → landscape
Another relevant question, of course, is “Where does the country go from here?”
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country → go → course
In one of our rare staff editorials, we wrote that it’s time for a return to principles.
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it → write → principles
What America needs is a return to the principles the Founders enshrined in the constitutional order Trump and his allies have sought to undermine—the principles the conservative movement used to champion.
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movement → need → order
We’ve pointed out many times before that America no longer has a limited government party.
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America → point → party
It needs one.
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It → need → one
…
Yes, times have changed.
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times → change → ?
And, yes, the policy implications of limiting government will be different, in no small measure because there’s a lot more government to limit these days.
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implications → limit → measure
But the thing about principles—the thing that the president and the motley band of grifters and opportunists around him, unsurprisingly, do not understand—is that they’re timeless.
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they → understand → him
If you didn’t get a chance to check out the Dispatch Live coverage on YouTube Tuesday night, you still can.
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you → get → YouTube
Watch Sarah Isgur discuss Texas’ shift from red to blue in real time, and don’t miss the conclusion, where the panel discusses whether this is the end of the MAGA movement.
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this → watch → movement
Of course Democrats have a mandate to not be Trump, however the election turns out.
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election → have → mandate
In a sense, everybody has a mandate to not be Trump: Trump’s approval numbers are down there with hemorrhoids.
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numbers → have → hemorrhoids
The proper response to right-wing populism, extremism, vendetta politics, hysteria, etc. is not more of the same from a new group of newly empowered jackasses, old policies applied to a new enemies’ list.
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response → empower → list
There are better and worse ways for the Democrats to proceed with whatever newfound power they have come January.
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they → be → power
Because I have a very strong preference for boring government, let’s consider the case of taxes.
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’s → have → taxes
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
