_Maddie Niblett is a freshman journalism major at MU. She is an opinions columnist who writes about politics for The Maneater._
I’ll come right out and say it — so far, 2018 sucks. Tide Pod memes aside, it seems like stupidity is unavoidable, even at what’s supposed to be the most professional level. Just over the past week or so, Donald Trump has ordered an unnecessarily vulgar display of America’s military, claimed that he was “victimized” by the Obama administration, and supported a member of his staff who was accused of domestic abuse by not one, not two, but three former wives/girlfriends, photographic evidence included. Things do indeed look bleak, but this week I’ve decided to start focusing on the more positive things in life.
For example, in a state House of Representatives special election last Tuesday, Missouri’s 97th District elected Democrat Mike Revis over Republican David Linton in a 52-48 win. But wait, here’s the best part: This same district voted for Trump in 2016 by a 28-point majority. This marks the second special election in 2018 where a bright blood-red Republican seat was overtaken by a true blue Democrat.
Republicans are writing off this small victory, saying that it is only because of the media attention that Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ has received after the publication of an affair and allegations of blackmail to go along with it. While that may be part of the reason behind such a dramatic swing to the left, the overall trend in special elections so far has been overwhelmingly on the Democrats’ side.
The party has gained an average of 14 percentage points in each state and district where a special election has been held during this cycle, with some districts gaining more than 30 percentage points of Democratic support. Trends in special elections are typically good indicators of what bigger elections are going to look like, in this case the midterm elections. This is the beginning of substantial proof that Democrats may actually have a chance at winning a majority in one (or both) of the houses of Congress.
Yes, things do look pretty bleak. Our current president is a Twitter-addicted man-child, our government has already shut down twice this year and our public leaders are being accused of sexual misconduct and/or blackmail left and right (looking at you, Gov. Greitens). If the Democratic Party can keep this grassroots momentum going and encourage enough people to vote in the midterms, even if only in opposition to Trump, 2018 may not turn out to be so bad after all.
