USA Elections
Brett LoGiurato and Hunter Walker
Time cover mocks Obama
Democrats knew they were in trouble on election night Tuesday when a Virginia Senate seat that was expected to be a blowout victory began to come in much closer than expected.
"When you’re cheering for an eke-out win in Virginia, it’s not going to be a good night," one Democratic strategist told Business Insider.
Another Democratic insider summed up his impression of the evening’s results in a blunt text message: "Fucking. Bloodbath."
In almost every sense, the midterm elections were a disaster for the Democratic Party. The Democrats lost their majority in the US Senate, and the final results were shaping up to be close to the worst-case scenario for Democrats in which Republicans would swing eight or nine seats.
In addition to the Senate majority, Democrats were badly beaten further down the ballot. They lost key gubernatorial battles — some in strongholds and others in key targets for pickups. And they were further walloped in the House of Representatives, where Republicans are now on track to have the party’s largest majority since 1928 for the final two years of President Barack Obama’s term.
Republicans were gleeful.
"Feel like we’re surfing at the moment," one Republican official told Business Insider, playing off the theme of a GOP "wave" election.