By TIPP EDITORIAL BOARD, TIPP Insights

The Red Wave eluded Republicans and nearly every political pundit, again showing how risky it is to gauge Americans’ moods correctly. Despite the intensity, the GOP, with 220 seats in the House, will control the chamber ending Pelosi’s speakership and demoting Adam Schiff, Benny Thompson, and other partisan Democrats to the minority.

Florida’s Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, fired on all cylinders and emerged as the party’s latest star.

DeSantis gave a thundering victory speech to his supporters after crushing Democratic opponent Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points in the Sunshine State. Of course, there were many catchy lines, but this line reflected the goal of conservatives the best: “We will never ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”

DeSantis’s landslide win immediately propelled him as the GOP leader with formidable support to win the 2024 election should he win a contested primary against former President Donald Trump, currently the front-runner. At the Conservative Political Action Committee Conference in Dallas, which we covered in August, Trump came in at 69% in their straw poll. Ron DeSantis was at 24%. Everyone else – Nikki Haley, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Kristi Noem, Mike Pompeo – was at 2% or less.

There were other winners. Georgia’s Brian Kemp easily won reelection to the governor’s mansion in a rematch against election denier Stacey Abrams. Kemp pushed through a strict Georgia voter law with significant provisions to enforce election integrity. President Biden and his liberal friends criticized the move as Jim Crow 2.0 restrictions – which turned out to be a gross misstatement. More people voted in Georgia primaries than ever, and Abrams called the Kemp campaign to concede.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott destroyed perennial state-wide Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke by 12 points, just as we had predicted last November.

Both races ended the political careers of two rock stars in the Democrat party. Expect both Abrams and O’Rourke to win cushy analyst or hosting roles at various corporate media outlets that have shamelessly given them megaphones disproportionate to their achievements.

The elections proved that Americans were tired of political posturing, both pro, and con, around the 2020 general election.

Elaine Luria, a Democrat in Virginia’s 2nd district and a member of the J6 Committee, lost her reelection bid to Jen Kiggans by 4 points in a tightly contested race. She joins three other J6 members – Trump haters Liz Cheney and Adam Daniel Kinzinger and Democrat Stephanie Murphy – whose political careers have now ended as each made opposition to former President Trump a cornerstone of their profiles.

On the other hand, in an ominous message for the 45th president, Americans signaled that they don’t want to revisit his 2020 grievances. Voters resoundingly rejected candidates that consistently questioned the results of the 2020 election, such as Dr. Oz (Senate – PA), Bolduc (Senate – NH), Michels (WI Governor), and Dixon (MI Governor). The lone exception was J.D. Vance, who may have won his Ohio senate seat not because of but despite his opposition to the 2020 election results.

Each loser had received Trump’s endorsements and aggressively campaigned on a message that the 2020 election results were stolen. Dr. Oz’s loss against John Fetterman was particularly significant because it allowed the Democrats to pick up a Senate seat, emboldening Biden’s hopes in the upper chamber.

In a collateral blow to the GOP, another Trump endorsee, Doug Mastriano, lost big to Democrat Joe Shapiro in Pennsylvania’s governor’s race. Given Fetterman’s poor health, this gives the Democrats a four-year cushion to name another Democrat to the Senate should Fetterman become incapacitated.

Political pundits had expanded the potential Republican win map to deep blue states such as Washington, Oregon, New York, and Connecticut. While the GOP candidates fought valiantly, the states remained blue in the end. Two governor’s mansions in Maryland and Massachusetts actually flipped from the GOP to the Democrats, once again establishing the Democrats as the party of the coasts.

Given such an underwhelming GOP performance, DeSantis’s victory had meaning far beyond winning a prominent state governor’s race. His stewardship of Florida has now made it a reliable red state in the same mold as Texas. It is nearly impossible for a Republican presidential candidate to win a national election without carrying Florida, and DeSantis has struck Florida off Democrat wishlists for years to come.

Florida also showed yet again that its electoral processes are world-class. For a vast state spanning multiple time zones, the results were out in less than an hour after polls closed. There were no Leftist complaints about mail-in voting or tabulation. Even traditionally-blue Miami-Dade county flipped red, and no one complained or filed a challenge. Contrast this with the mess in Maricopa County, Arizona, that state’s biggest district, where several voting machines failed, and a judge refused to extend balloting hours.

With many House races too close to call, the GOP owes its thanks to DeSantis, who, by cleverly redistricting the state to survive court challenges, may well have given the GOP up to a 4-seat pickup advantage. As we went to press, the GOP is up +5 in the House.

Marco Rubio, Florida’s two-term senator, convincingly beat his Democratic opponent Val Demings by a whopping 17-point margin, riding mainly on DeSantis’s coattails. The hallmark of a national leader is that you can transfer your successes to others.

President Biden turns 80 on Nov 20 and will likely lose in 2024 if he decides to run again. VP Kamala Harris has not shown that she is ready yet, and the party continues to be beholden to its left wing. Much can happen before 2024, but the White House is within the GOP’s easy reach if it remains united between Trump and DeSantis and if Trump can move beyond 2020.

Two big ifs.

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