Sunday, October 25, 2026

Mid Term Blue Wave Senate: THE SOUTH

 The South, according to Mrs. Spore, consists of 10 states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.  In this cycle of elections, ALL ten states have elections.  Four states have open seats (NC, AL, LA, and TX), two states (SC and FL) are hosting elections with appointed Senators seeking their first elected terms, and the rest (GA, MS, TN, and AR) have incumbents seeking re-election.  As a region, the median age of the likely new cadre of Senators will be one of the youngest in the country, setting up the possibility of a new power-base as seniority accrues.  

My choices are my fantasy, but they are not based on a lack of information or polling.  When the dust settles, if this Blue Wave manifests itself, this election may come to be known as the "re-Purple-ing" of America bringing a Democratic voice to regions with a recent history of Republican hegemony.

KEY

North Carolina's Senior Senator is only in his first term.  He's a Trump Accolite who previously served in the House of Representatives.  Roy Cooper will be the first Democrat to win a Republican seat on Election night.  Cooper has been a moderate Governor of the State guiding its choices down the middle of the road to the best of his abilities.  North Carolina will become a Purple state with his victory.
Tim Scott, the Senior Senator of South Carolina was initially elevated to the seat as an appointment after the Republican elected Senator Jim DeMint resigned in disgrace.  In 2013, he was officially elected to the Senate. In his second term, Scott is the longest serving African American Senator in the history of this nation.  Dr. Annie Andrews will be the first Democratic candidate to win a seat in the Senate from South Carolina since Democratic Senators were staunch segregationists.  It would be a new beginning for Democrats in the state.
Georgia is either an outlier with two Democratic Senators or a harbinger of a changing South.  This election may give us some real insight into which it is.  While Jon Ossoff is the Senior Senator, both he and Junior Senator Raphael Warnock were first elected in the same year.  With this year's victory, both well have been reelected giving the idea that they are somehow a fluke no credence.  
Florida's Senior Senator is a former Healthcare executive who has done everything within his power to support the raping of American by the Pharmacuetical/Healthcare Industrial Complexes.  He could care less about the poor or needy.  Should she win, and I grant you, my including Angie Nixon in this post is my most aspirational stretch for a 2026 mid-term win.  She would be the polar opposite to Scott.  Black, a woman, raised in a lower-middle class setting and a passion for a government that supports and empowers the common folks.
Senior Senator Katie Britt is in her first term.  Besides her love of Jesus I really don't know what else makes her happy.  The RNC has used her to motivate women to support the party, which may be her greatest contribution as a Senator to this point.  The election of Barry Moore will maintain Republican uninimity for representation from Alabama.  Moore is currently a member of the House delegation from Alabama.
Senior Senator Roger Wicker is one of the last remaining members of the first Republican wave in the Senate back in oughts.  He is an old school politician who would prefer to spend his time legislating than kissing a sycophantic President's bulbous ass.  I sometimes feel sorry for him--he's trapped in a world of Trumpian vitriol and mean-spiritedness.  Colom winning is another fantasy pic, but one with more than a spot of Karma should it come to pass.  He was nominated for a Federal Judgeship under Biden with what was thought to be both Wicker and present incumbent Hyde-Smith's acquaintance.  Then old Cindy got wind that Colom believes Transfolks are actually people, too.  Sorry Roger, Cindy pulled her blue card and left him high and dry...
Tennessee's Junior Senator Hagerty is coasting to re-election.  It will be his second term.  A legislator of no consequence.  It's Senior Senator Marsha Blackburn, on the other hand, is well versed at stealing all of the oxygen out of any room she enters.  A real firebrand on the Judiciary Committee in particular; however, she is also running for and expected to win the Governorship of Tennessee.  There will be a special election before the dust settles on this one.
Arkansas Senior Senator John Boozman is another milktoast legislator.  I can't think of a single thing he's sponsored in his 14 years in the Senate.  He's got to be thanking his lucky stars that he's not up for re-election this cycle.  As Chairman of the Senate Agricultural Committee, he'd be up Shit Creek to have to defend this administrations farming policies!  The Junior Senator is up for re-election.  Senator Tom Cotton entered the Senate with a little group of other recent Iraq War Veterans.  While it's been long assumed that Arkansas was a safe seat for Republicans, it's also one that has seen obscene amounts of spending to ensure that it is so.
Senior Senator John Kennedy is another thoughback to a more genteel time in the Senate--it's easy to picture him dressed in a white Sear's Sucker Suite hold a mint julep in one hand while dabbed beads of sweat off of his brow with a proper kerchief in the other.  I love to watch him in action.  He delights himself with his own clever little zingers during committee cross examinations of appointees.  The soon-to-be Junior Senator came to this race in one of the most bizarre of manners.  The wife of a House candidate who was elected in 2018 and then widowed when he died of Covid-19!  She won election the seat, and then was christened by Trump to this seat after Trump cursed the former incumbent, leading to his loss in the primary.  Whew!  But unlike other freshman Republican, Letlow is sharp and driven.  I feel like only a fool would underestimate her potential.
Texas' Senior Senator is Ted Cruz.  Its soon to be Junior Senator is James Talarico.  Talarico will do what Democrats have been unable to do since June 13, 1993, put a Democrat's butt in a seat set aside for a Democrat from the state of Texas.

Index Time
By Demographic Category
GENDER 5 out of 20; 25; current score 25
RACE 4 out of 20 - 20; current score 10
RELIGION 1 out of 20 - 5; current score 5
DISABILITY 0 out of 20 - 0.0; current score 0.0

Diversity Index becomes 50.0 as compared to the current index of 40.0

By region so far:
New England - 8.3
Mid-Atlantic - 25.0
Midwest - 45.8
The South - 50.0

Average Age will go from 64 to 57.

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