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**NOVEMBER 11, 2022**

Kuttner on TAP

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**** Did We Just Save Democracy?

The 2022 midterms were stunning as much for what didn't happen as for
what did.

We had a very narrow path to saving American democracy this year, and we
just might have begun that journey. For starters, it's likely that
Democrats will hold the Senate. Catherine Cortez Masto seems on track to
eke out a narrow win in Nevada once all ballots are counted. That
success, along with the almost certain victory of Democrat Mark Kelly in
Arizona, means that Democrats are likely to keep 50 Senate seats whether
or not Raphael Warnock wins the December 6 runoff in Georgia.

So even if Democrats very narrowly lose the House, Biden will have a
Senate that can confirm nominees, conduct investigations, and block
crazy Republican legislation. And if it's clear that Democrats have
kept control even without the Georgia seat, that is likely to depress
Republican turnout more than Democratic turnout when Georgians vote.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, an anti-Trump Republican,
cruised to re-election, and we can expect an honest vote count.

More remarkably, the anticipated Trumpian claims of election fraud, as
well as Republican attempts to use it to their advantage, totally
fizzled. Trump's calls were widely ignored. Almost everywhere, it was
a normal election.

Efforts at voter intimidation at polling places were blocked. With a few
exceptions, even conservative courts refused to connive with Republican
strategies to deter or depress voting.

In every major race that the AP has called, the loser has accepted
defeat. Most statewide Republican candidates who campaigned around
claims of ballot mischief were defeated.

For the most part, state and local election officials, of both parties,
behaved like professionals, defending the right to vote. The few genuine
cases of technical problems with voting, as in Philadelphia and Maricopa
County, Arizona, were speedily rectified. There is still a good deal of
ballot-counting to go, but all indications are that is going smoothly.

And as our colleague Miles Rapoport points out, "In addition to
rejecting election denial victories in the most important states, voters
in several states passed ballot initiatives to expand voting and voting
choice."

Rapoport notes that in Michigan, voters approved a measure requiring
nine days of early voting, increased ballot drop boxes, and more time to
count absentee ballots. Arizona enacted an initiative requiring more
transparency for campaign contributions. And Connecticut voters passed a
constitutional amendment allowing for early voting.

At the city level, Portland, Oregon, passed a new multimember
proportional representation and ranked-choice voting plan. Oakland
approved a program of public-financing vouchers and expanded
transparency for local elections. And in Seattle, an initiative for
ranked-choice voting is too close to call.

The failure of Republican candidates or activists to rally to Trump's
banner of claimed election fraud is another sign of Trump's
diminishing influence both in his party and with voters. Much of the
claim of stolen elections began with Trump. And as a sign of sick
democracy, it could well end with him.

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The battle to save democracy is far from over, but these trends are a
sign that at least the "ballot fraud" fever has peaked. Of course, some
of the deeper problems with democracy are still baked in-the grotesque
amounts of special-interest money being spent; the partisan
gerrymandering; and the far-right capture of the Supreme Court.

At the local and state level, the struggle to prevent partisan
legislation and official interference from deterring voting will still
be trench warfare. Florida, for example, has successfully undermined a
voter-approved ballot initiative to give former felons back the vote.

But we now have a decent shot at rebuilding our democracy. This was by
no means assured and it is still far from a sure thing.

For democracy to broadly prevail, right-wing candidates need to be
repudiated. Democrats will need to keep on rallying voters to the banner
of economic justice, as they did in the 2022 midterms. They will need to
keep peeling off Trump voters, as John Fetterman did so brilliantly.
They will need to win in 2024 with a strong progressive program.

As a number of commentators have pointed out, Republicans are furious
with Trump for helping Republicans lose one winnable seat after another,
as well as scaring off voters with his own antics. It remains to be seen
how many will publicly break with him. Even if Mike Pence, Mitch
McConnell, and others are more outspoken in their criticisms of Trump,
he still could retain enough grassroots MAGA support to win the 2024
nomination.

Trumpers other than Trump, such as Ron DeSantis of Florida, could be
more dangerous. Yet it's not clear how well a DeSantis will travel. If
Democrats can stick to the kind of progressive populist themes that led
Fetterman to make big gains in Pennsylvania, they can beat either Trump
or DeSantis in 2024, notably in the Midwestern swing states where the
election will be decided.

Last April, when things were looking pretty bleak for Biden and the
Democrats, I published a book titled Going Big
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In it, I challenged the conventional premise that 2022 would be a
Republican wave and suggested several reasons why Democrats could beat
the midterm jinx.

I pointed out that Biden might not be popular personally but that he and
the Democrats had delivered a lot; that Biden would not be on the ballot
but that Trump in effect would, and that Trump would wreak havoc; and
that Republican stances on unpopular issues like abortion rights would
help Democrats. I also noted that individual Senate races looked pretty
decent for Democrats. At the time, people appreciated my efforts at
keeping hope alive, but thought I was a little wishful if not
delusional. Well, maybe not.

Tuesday proved that America is still a democracy. We are going to have
to keep fighting like hell to keep it that way.

~ ROBERT KUTTNER

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