This Is What a Mandate Looks Like

Photo: Joshua Hoehne via Unsplash

A mandate is not a mood or a hashtag. It is what happens when the voters speak so clearly that no one can pretend they did not hear it. On November 3, they spoke. Democrats will hold 258 seats in the House, at least 55 seats in the Senate, and five governors seats they did not hold before. That is what a mandate looks like.

Start with the numbers, because a mandate is a matter of arithmetic before it is a matter of poetry. Forty three seats gained in the House. Eight seats gained in the Senate. Five governors seats flipped, including Georgia, Nevada, Texas and Iowa. Georgia elected Keisha Lance Bottoms. Nevada elected Aaron Ford. Texas elected Gina Hinojosa. Those are not accidents.

Then look at who is coming to Washington. The first Muslim senator, Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan. The first Native American woman elected to the Senate, Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota. The first Black senator from Mississippi since 1874, Scott Colom. The first openly gay man elected to the Senate, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire. James Talarico from Texas, Steve Turek, a Paralympian from Iowa, and Adam Hamilton, the first Democrat from Kansas in about a hundred years. A mandate is not just about how many seats you win. It is about who is sitting in them.

A mandate is also about what the voters were rejecting. They were rejecting a war in Iran that cost 47 billion dollars and 18 American lives while gas climbed past four dollars a gallon. They were rejecting a president who governs like a king, which is why the No Kings movement filled the streets on October 17 and then filled the ballot boxes on November 3. They were rejecting the cruelty, the chaos and the contempt for the law.

And the courts told the same story. California won its third case in a week when the Ninth Circuit blocked the freeze on federal funds. A federal appeals court ruled that the administration illegally fired the director of Voice of America. The losses were real too. The Supreme Court let the border wall resume, and a judge let Trump's lawsuit against the BBC proceed. A mandate does not mean the fight is over. It means the people have chosen a side.

So what do you do with a mandate. You use it. You end the war. You bring down the prices. You protect the vote. You confirm judges who believe in the law. You pass the laws voters asked for instead of the ones donors paid for. A mandate is a tool. It only works if you pick it up.

This is the hundredth article on this site, and it is the last one in this series. The answer is in the numbers: 258 House seats, at least 55 Senate seats, five governors seats and a Senate that finally looks like America. That is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of the work. The voters did their part. Now it is our turn. Keep showing up. Keep speaking. Keep your voice.

WEAR YOUR VOICE