News
Midterm Elections Wrap-up: The Major Takeaways
November 7, 2014
When it comes to the midterm elections, you may be most invested in their impact on commercial real estate. But Vox and other outlets have helpfully boiled down the major takeaways as the dust settles.
- Democrats need to squint for silver linings: Between lost Senate seats in Colorado and an embarrassing upset in Obama's home state of Illinois, where Republican businessman Bruce Rauner beat the incumbent Pat Quinn, there is no denying that the Dems lost in a very big way.
- But the night may be a boon to Hillary Clinton, since potential 2016 primary rivals were stopped in their tracks. (Yes, the Dems will take solace wherever they can find it.)
- Republicans will gloat for a while. But as Nick Kristof wrote in the New York Times, no one in the House or Senate should get too full of themselves since a recent poll ranked Congress as less popular than cockroaches. That sentiment—and perpetual gridlock in DC—is unlikely to change, since Dems have gotten more liberal and the GOP more conservative...than at any point since 1879, per one study.
- Liberal causes fared well. Thanks in large part to younger voters, progressive measures like legalized marijuana (passed in DC and Oregon), a minimum wage raise (passed in Arkansas, Illinois and Nebraska) and increased gun control measure (successful in Washington state) fared well despite the Republican gains.
