What Went Down In The 2018 Midterms

I’m really impressed with Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s 61-36 win in Minnesota. Appointed Democratic Sen. Tina Smith won her concurrent race just 53-42, and Klobuchar did well in the Iron Range, where Democrats lost a House seat tonight. She really strengthened her case for winning over Trump voters in 2020 tonight.

Here’s a nugget from preliminary exit-poll data in the Montana Senate race: Tester is winning voters who are younger than 30 by a 43-point margin over Republican Matt Rosendale. He won that demographic by just an 8-point margin in 2012, according to ABC News.

A little more data has come in from Montana, and now Republican Matt Rosendale has taken the lead over Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, 49 percent to 48 percent. It’s still difficult to say how this will shake out. Many of the blue counties in the state have a lot of outstanding vote, including Missoula. But there are some small GOP-leaning counties that have not reported anything yet. Note that Tester has never won an outright majority in his two Senate win (49.2 percent in 2006 and 48.6 percent in 2012), so if he does eke out a win, this would be par for the course.