Republicans and pundits will play the “blame game” for a while and try to analyze “what happened” on Tuesday, November 3. And perhaps we can learn something (I doubt it). But I’m not going to do that in this article (although I just did it in a video podcast on my Substack). Tuesday’s done; it’s over, and we can’t change the results. We can try to learn from it (again, we probably won’t), pick up the pieces, and try to make sure it never happens again. And, well, it’s not like it’s never happened before. The Republicans lost 41 seats in the House in 2018, though, interestingly, they actually gained two seats in the Senate. 2026, obviously, is much worse.

So, pick up the pieces. What’s left? Frankly, not much. I’m not sure Texas is totally gone, like California and New York are, but if so, that would be very damaging. Florida is now the main Republican bulwark. What else? Well, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma are still pretty solid (Mississippi not so much so; Georgia is gone); Tennessee and West Virginia are still strongly Republican (I have worries about Kentucky’s inconsistency), and then there are Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah that are very dependable, with maybe Montana and the Dakotas. Indiana can usually be counted on, and Missouri, too.

And that’s just about it. Republicans have about 10 “solids” and a few “usuallys.” Fifteen or so out of 50. Alaska and Mississippi may go for Democratic senators this year (it’s still undecided at this writing), but any state that repeatedly elects Lisa Murkowski as senator (Alaska) isn’t to be trusted anyway. There’s just not much left, folks, and except for........

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