Joseph Sabino Mistick: No political eclipse this Election Day

In the dark hours of election morning 2022, before the polls opened, a rare blood moon total lunar eclipse — a sign of revelation and great change, according to astrologers — was visible across America. It was the first time in our history that Election Day coincided with a lunar eclipse, and as Newsweek reported the day before, some pastors called it a sign that a Republican “red wave” would sweep the land.

There was a wave on Election Day, just not the kind of wave that the pastors, pollsters and pundits predicted. The average midterm gain by the opposition party in the House of Representatives over the last 100 years has been 29 seats, but Republicans are now scratching to find the handful of seats they need to make a bare majority.

By not losing big, President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party won big. They flipped or held onto some congressional seats, may have fought to at least a draw for Senate control, and held onto and gained some governorships along the way.

In some states, the election results were a small move toward that sweet spot that is occupied by right-of-center and left-of-center thinkers who are willing to work together. And it may be the start of a turn toward civility, since hate-talkers and election deniers were big losers.

There is no single reason for this surprising election. Instead, there were several big issues at play.

Women’s health care was on the ballot. The Republican response after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade was the top issue for many voters. Conservative Republican states rushed to impose cruel restrictions on women and girls who face the most difficult decisions of their lives. The voters made it clear: Government should not be involved.

Democracy was on the ballot. Voters rejected the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, the threats of violence and the attempts to intimidate voters and election workers — all of this punctuated by the brutal attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul. Voters were not intimidated and voted in record numbers for a midterm election.

Donald Trump was on the ballot. In some key states, his anointed favorites scuttled Republican chances of victory, but he won a few. On Election Day, Trump summed up his sense of responsibility, saying, “Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit, and if they lose, I should not be blamed at all.”

CNN reported that exit polls showed that 28% of voters cast their congressional votes “to oppose Donald Trump.”

The real surprise was the turnout of voters under 30, the second highest in the past three decades at around 31% in the battleground states. They preferred Democratic candidates by a 28-point margin and carried the day for Sen.-elect John Fetterman in Pennsylvania.

And one of the most important lessons came from a candidate in defeat, often the source of real wisdom. When Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan lost the Ohio Senate race, he called it a “privilege to concede” to J.D. Vance.

“Because the way this country operates is that you lose an election, you concede. You respect the will of the people. We can’t have a system where if you win, it’s a legitimate election, and if you lose, someone stole it. That is not how we can move forward in the United States.”