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EarlG

(23,658 posts)
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 10:19 AM 8 hrs ago

'A wow moment': Democrats make big gains in key battlegrounds

Democrats just had one of their best election nights since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Again.

In Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election, the Democratic-backed candidate sailed to a nearly 20-point landslide victory Tuesday in a battleground Trump carried less than two years ago. Meanwhile, a Georgia Democrat slashed Trump’s margin of victory by two thirds in the state’s reddest district despite losing the election — the most significant overperformance the party has seen across all seven House special elections so far this cycle.

The results in the battleground states — home to key Senate, gubernatorial and House races — are the latest repudiation from voters of Trump and his agenda and flashing warning signs for the GOP heading into November.

“It’s a wow moment in Wisconsin politics,” said former Republican strategist Brandon Scholz, who left the party in 2021. “Republicans ought to be sitting down tonight and going, ‘Okay, we just screwed up another race. What are we going to do in November?’”

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/08/democrats-gains-wisconsin-georgia-elections-trump-00863404
31 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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'A wow moment': Democrats make big gains in key battlegrounds (Original Post) EarlG 8 hrs ago OP
k&r bigtree 8 hrs ago #1
The MSM: "Why this is bad for the Democrats..." yardwork 8 hrs ago #2
We're so extreme because we want to spend $ on housing and medical wolfie001 8 hrs ago #7
The victory in Wisconsin Chautauquas 8 hrs ago #3
That fucker Walker's legacy wolfie001 8 hrs ago #8
A 5 to 2 majority😊 Figarosmom 5 hrs ago #25
The independent voters are pivoting back to voting blue FakeNoose 8 hrs ago #4
revenge of the soccer moms. mopinko 6 hrs ago #18
Dems flip malaise 8 hrs ago #5
I like that! wolfie001 8 hrs ago #9
Thanks malaise 8 hrs ago #11
Recommend sheshe2 8 hrs ago #6
If Dems overperform in Nov. as well as Shawn Harris did in this district, Rethugs would be left with 161 to 174 seats peppertree 8 hrs ago #10
Republicans: "Okay, we just screwed up another race. What are we going to do in November?" peppertree 8 hrs ago #12
Now if that district could overcome its blatant racist thinking. mdbl 8 hrs ago #13
"What are we going to do in November?" BWdem4life 7 hrs ago #14
"What are we going to do in November?" GiqueCee 7 hrs ago #15
Anything but admit they made a mistake. progressoid 6 hrs ago #20
So What's The Over/Under modrepub 6 hrs ago #16
the Republicans are learning azureblue 6 hrs ago #17
The tides are indeed turning! People are waking up to the dangerous menace that is the Trump Fox MAGA party! Initech 6 hrs ago #19
An expensive lesson - our gas is going to be crazy expensive TBF 6 hrs ago #21
That's a powerful point you make, TBF. calimary 5 hrs ago #24
The abuse, the trafficking, and what else? TBF 4 hrs ago #27
Yep. So now I'm wondering what he's so desperate to keep buried. calimary 4 hrs ago #28
I'd like to take a shot at answering the closing question. BobTheSubgenius 6 hrs ago #22
DURec leftstreet 5 hrs ago #23
And a Democratic Mayor in WAUKESHA! Figarosmom 5 hrs ago #26
GOP: "we just screwed up another race. What are we going to do " Bluetus 4 hrs ago #29
A good night mcar 3 hrs ago #30
K&R red dog 1 14 min ago #31

wolfie001

(7,722 posts)
7. We're so extreme because we want to spend $ on housing and medical
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 11:00 AM
8 hrs ago

Instead of "dumb" bombs and ways to kill people. Such radical thinkers' we Democrats are. These billionaire-owned news outlets are truly shit.

Chautauquas

(4,490 posts)
3. The victory in Wisconsin
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 10:37 AM
8 hrs ago

means we'll have a majority on the state supreme court until at least 2030.

FakeNoose

(41,753 posts)
4. The independent voters are pivoting back to voting blue
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 10:39 AM
8 hrs ago

This is what we need to win the midterm elections - get the independent, non-affiliated voters to show up at the polls and vote blue. They can finally see what a mistake the R party is, and it was stupid to give the R's (and Chump) way too much power. Now we're all paying a very high price for that mistake.

mopinko

(73,750 posts)
18. revenge of the soccer moms.
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 12:21 PM
6 hrs ago

they vote on the safety of their kids. w scared them, so they voted for him.
it’s pretty clear who the threat is now.
and they’re not gonna forget about the epstein files.

peppertree

(23,372 posts)
10. If Dems overperform in Nov. as well as Shawn Harris did in this district, Rethugs would be left with 161 to 174 seats
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 11:02 AM
8 hrs ago


(R+19 district, and Harris lost by 12)

peppertree

(23,372 posts)
12. Republicans: "Okay, we just screwed up another race. What are we going to do in November?"
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 11:07 AM
8 hrs ago

Last edited Wed Apr 8, 2026, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

“Steal'em and/or cancel the election outright - by way of some staged “terrorist” incident, of course.”

mdbl

(8,699 posts)
13. Now if that district could overcome its blatant racist thinking.
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 11:13 AM
8 hrs ago

They might make a better choice for themselves.

GiqueCee

(4,339 posts)
15. "What are we going to do in November?"
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 12:05 PM
7 hrs ago

Why, they'll do what they always do anyway: lie, cheat, steal, and possibly murder. Well, they'll probably leave that last one to the ICE goons who will illegally try to intimidate voters at the polls, but if a voter blinks the wrong way – BLAM! And call it self-defense, of course.

modrepub

(4,121 posts)
16. So What's The Over/Under
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 12:20 PM
6 hrs ago

for the number of days until Clay Fuller (Rat-Fu--er) is sworn in and seated for MTG's old seat in Congress?

Sorry for pointing out a downer for the night but I'm still curious.

azureblue

(2,731 posts)
17. the Republicans are learning
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 12:21 PM
6 hrs ago

that their bullying, lying, and corruption has caught up with them, and they are lucky tar and feathers aren't easily obtained.. Of course they will lie and try to intimidate even more, but now the world sees Trump a a paper tiger..

Initech

(108,856 posts)
19. The tides are indeed turning! People are waking up to the dangerous menace that is the Trump Fox MAGA party!
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 12:23 PM
6 hrs ago

Let's do the real patriotic thing and celebrate America's 250th birthday by flushing the Fox party down the drain where they belong!

TBF

(36,780 posts)
21. An expensive lesson - our gas is going to be crazy expensive
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 12:34 PM
6 hrs ago

for quite some time. But, yes, there were great victories for democrats yesterday.

Now, for all that is holy, our reps should be calling very loudly for the release of the unredacted Epstein Files - it is clearly his Achilles heel. And, at this point, I want to see what he did that was so horrible that it was worth attacking Iran to distract.

calimary

(90,162 posts)
24. That's a powerful point you make, TBF.
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 01:18 PM
5 hrs ago

I too want to know what it was THAT HE DID, that was “so horrible that it was worth attacking Iran to distract”.

Whatever is in the Epstein files must be potentially lethal.

TBF

(36,780 posts)
27. The abuse, the trafficking, and what else?
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 02:15 PM
4 hrs ago

I'm convinced the abuse was the tip of the iceberg - how they were getting paid and laundering those funds, and what kind of connections existed (via Epstein and/or Trump) with Israel and Russia at that time.

I think there's a lot and he knows it. Maybe he isn't as addled with dementia as we feared - maybe there are just really big things he needs to keep buried.

calimary

(90,162 posts)
28. Yep. So now I'm wondering what he's so desperate to keep buried.
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 02:25 PM
4 hrs ago

I hope questions about that will keep him bedeviled until the moment he finally has to meet Satan himself… or maybe escorted to Hell’s waiting room where he doesn’t realize he’ll be kept waiting, alone, literally put on “Ignore” for all eternity.

Figarosmom

(12,156 posts)
26. And a Democratic Mayor in WAUKESHA!
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 01:48 PM
5 hrs ago

Halvensleben elected as mayor of Waukesha | Waukesha Co. News | gmtoday.com https://share.google/AG61807aGemHF1n0B

With 51.2%

WAUKESHA — Alicia Halvensleben was elected during Tuesday's election as the next mayor of Waukesha against Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha.

Tuesday’s election results show Halvensleben led with 9,535 votes, earning 51.2% of the total ballots cast. Allen followed with 9,081 votes, or 48.7%. There were 25 write-in votes.

Bluetus

(2,887 posts)
29. GOP: "we just screwed up another race. What are we going to do "
Wed Apr 8, 2026, 02:39 PM
4 hrs ago

That is one of the stupidest things I have heard a GOP strategist say -- and I hope they keep thinking exactly this way.

The results have little or nothing to do with "the campaign". It is simply a case of a party that is shoving down the American throats a bunch of policies that Americans do not want.

This is like that old bullshit "All politics is local". That is not true. That has never been true. There are important national issues. People in Wisconsin have television, I am told. So they are probably aware of the shit that has been going down in Minneapolis, for example. People in Georgia see the war that they don't want at the same time they see the closures of hospitals the DO want.

We need to stop thinking the way things might have been 50 years ago. Are we saying that, all of a sudden, a party that was losing regularly, has learned how to run fantastic campaigns that are now performing 20% better? Of course not. That is nonsense. It is about the national state of affairs, and we will maximize our success if ALL Democrats get on board with what we need to be doing in a unified way as an opposition party.

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