As Associated Press points out, Republicans had hoped for a wipeout last night – but Democrats held their own on Tuesday as many of their incumbents proved surprisingly resilient, outperforming their party's own expectations. However, the GOP was successful in one objective: it appears Democrats will no longer have a stranglehold on the federal government come January as the GOP flipped enough seats to grab the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Only three times since 1862 has the party holding the White House not lost seats in the House. Gary Bauer of American Values told American Family Radio Tuesday night that the party in power that loses seats usually sees the writing on the wall and moves to the center.
"I think the conventional wisdom is the Democrats will go through one of these soul-searching [exercises] – We moved too far to the left, we've got to get back to bread and butter issues," he shared.
But Bauer says this Democratic Party is very liberal, very hardheaded, and may have drunk their own Kool-Aid. "I think they actually mean it when they say that we're Nazis and fascists [and that] 'democracy's at stake.' I think they may double down," he warned.
Dr. Alex McFarland explained that would be good news for Republicans. "The fact that the liberal, progressive, socialist Democrats [have] resorted to fearmongering and lies, I think that's acknowledgement that they really don't have a message for us," he stated.
But, McFarland concluded, that would be bad news indeed for a country that needs to unite.
Money speaks when Republicans don't
Hopes were high among conservatives for an upset in New Hampshire where U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, was considered vulnerable and faced Republican challenger Donald Bolduc, an Army veteran. But it didn't work out that way as Hassan won by about ten points.
Mike Hammond, a New Hampshire resident, is legislative counsel to Gun Owners of America. "She outspent Bolduc by about 10 or 20 to one," he tells AFN. "She bought the state; she bought the election. That seems to be the Democrat strategy here. They somehow have an incredible money-raising machine."
But there was another factor, says Hammond: Republicans were ashamed of the issues that have traditionally have gotten them elected.
"In 1994, for instance it was guns. In 2010, it was our efforts on Obamacare with respect to the gun issue," he argues. "So, Republicans are ashamed of their issue and Democrats have all the money.
"If Republicans can't win this year, I don't know when they can win. It was not a good night for Republicans," he laments.
Hassan was joined by three other incumbent Democrats in the Northeast who came out on top in their Senate races: Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Chuck Schumer (New York), and Chris Van Hollen (Maryland).
