By Ameara Ditsche
Staff Writer
Nov. 6 was Election Day, this year, 2018 marks two years since Donald trump’s inauguration, making this his midterm election. This election has been highly anticipated due to how many seats of Congress were up. 36 states and three territories held gubernatorial elections, as well as 82 percent of state legislative seats changing.
Republicans added to their majority of the senate by two seats but Democrats took back the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years. Due to the House being enumerated the power to start the process of impeachment, this opens up the question, will they try to impeach Trump?
Probably not, because even with a majority vote in the House, the senate would still need to provide a two-thirds vote in order for a conviction. Unfortunately, Trump most likely remains safe from impeachment as long as the GOP controls at least one house of congress.
If Trump were to be impeached, it wouldn’t do much good for the democrat agenda anyway. Vice President Mike Pence would just become president. Pence shares the same discriminatory views as Trump and also has the political experience and knowledge to make them happen.
The November 2018 elections were historial for women, with 118 women taking seats in congress, surpassing the previous record set in 1992 which has been regarded since as “The Year of the Women.” Several of these women included women of color.
This includes two Native American Women, who will be the first Native Americans to serve in congress. And the first Muslim woman to be elected to a congressional seat. Along with several of the more conservative states electing their first female senators or house reps ever.
Republicans took control of the Senate.
This election also proved to be a victory for the LGBT community, with the first openly gay man to be elected governor.
Before ballots were even considered and results came to be, this election proved to have one of the highest voter turnouts in recent history.
With numbers skyrocketing from last year’s midterm elections, especially among young people. Many people in the 18 to 24 age group, myself included, voted for the first time and strongly encouraged their friends, families, and peers to vote as well. They used their prowess of mass communication and social media to spread the words as to how important this election really is.
Many polls experienced technical issues due to an unexpected influx in voter turnout. Some people reported waiting for hours in lines because of broken machines or late openings. Some students at Temple University in Philadelphia reported at first being turned away from voted due to only having a student ID.
A student ID from a university is considered valid voting identification and luckily most students were aware of this and contested the denial, eventually being able to cast their ballots.
Despite these complications, people took into consideration the importance of this election and went the extra mile to be able to have their voice heard.
One of the most notable contests of the election was between Ted Cruz and Beto O’rourke for senatorship in Texas. Cruz, being the incumbent senator and O’rourke a House Rep from El Paso. Texas is notorious for staying red and conservative. For O’Rourke, a progressive democrat to even be a threat is a huge success for liberals.
If nothing else, he gained immense notoriety thrighthout the country that will be useful if he ever tries to broaden his career to a national level. Which I’d be all for, and I’m not the only one. Young people over the entire nation were in support of him and mourned his loss to Cruz.
Despite the loss of senate seats and not as intense of a “Blue Wave,” this election was a success in bringing our country forward.
