The 2026 election is over, and my predictions for a medium-size blue wave turned out to be far too conservative. It was a big blue tsunami! Before we consider anything else, let's take some time to celebrate the departure of all the crazy, racist, bigoted, homophobic, criminal, corrupt Republicans who are now out of power. It's the Good Riddance Report! Let's go alphabetically by state:
California
A fixture of odious conservative politics since the 1990s, America is finally rid of congressman Darrell Issa, who chose not to run for reelection. As I wrote in 2014, Issa was the Republican's point man in its phony, lying investigation of the IRS: "So, to summarize Congressman Issa's actions so far. In May, 2013 the Inspector General released the results of its skewed investigation. Issa then used the results of that investigation, along with excerpts from interviews with IRS agents that he refused to release publicly, to make demonstrably false statements about what the IRS was and was not doing, then made additional false accusations against the White House based on those false statements."
Colorado
MAGA favorite congresswoman Lauren Boebert has lost her ruby-red district to Democrat Eileen Laubacher. Boebert represented the absolute worst of bigoted White nationalist rhetoric, among other things.
Iowa
As a former intern for Democratic Senator Tom Harkin, I was deeply disappointed by the loss of his seat in 2014 to the hyper-conservative Joni Ernst. Ernst is now mostly remembered for her inappropriate relationships with top military men who lobbied before her Senate committee. Ernst is gone now, her seat won by Democrat Josh Turek following her retirement.
Iowa is also finally rid of congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who for years has been a hard-right figure in the swing district where I used to live. MMM's seat was won on Tuesday by Democrat Christina Bohannon.
Kansas
"I didn't send people to jail because they couldn't pay small medical debts. I hired other people to do it." The never popular Senator Roger Marshall lost his reelection bid in the first Senate race win for Kansas Democrats since 1932. Marshall sounded a lot like a mafia boss when he attempted to defend his actions in suing hundreds of people over medical debts of as little as $101 and having them arrested when they failed to make court appearances.
Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach also lost his reelection bid. From Charlie Pierce of Esquire.com: "Kris Kobach of Kansas—and never has a phrase with three K’s been more apt—is one of the founding weasels of the modern voter-suppression effort. If there is an odious policy position concocted since 2008, Kobach has run the laboratory that produced it. Imaginary voter fraud? Kobach led the farcical election-integrity commission during Trump I that fell apart after a contentious 2017 hearing in New Hampshire at which Kobach’s contentions were disemboweled by Maine secretary of state Matthew Dunlap. Draconian immigration policies? As Kansas secretary of state, Kobach tried to initiate a "proof of citizenship" law that lined him up on the wrong side of the League of Women Voters. Outright racism? Kobach told a radio program that the Obama administration was not far from a call for an end to all prosecutions of African Americans. If there was an ur-Trumper before Trump, it was Kris Kobach."
Maryland
From boltsmag.org: "Chuck Jenkins, the notoriously anti-immigrant Maryland sheriff who boasts of having helped deport 2,000 people, was wiped out in Tuesday’s blue wave. Voters in Frederick County, a fast-growing and increasingly liberal area north of Washington, D.C., denied his bid for a sixth term. They opted for his opponent, Democrat Karl Bickel, by a margin of 56 to 44 percent. César Díaz, president of the city council in Frederick, which is the county’s largest city, called Jenkins’s defeat “a repudiation of evil."
Maine
As long last, we're rid of Senator Susan Collins, who was defeated in her bid for a sixth term in the Senate. From Planned Parenthood: "Collins has spent the entirety of Trump’s second term falling in line by confirming 94% of his anti-abortion judges alongside dangerously unqualified people to lead key healthcare agencies. To put it simply, Susan Collins is a threat to abortion access and cannot be trusted with protecting Mainers’ rights."
New Jersey
Elected as a Democrat in New Jersey's second congressional district., Jeff Van Drew flipped to the Republicans in 2020, promising Trump his "undying support". Despite the district being redrawn to make it more Republican, Van Drew was defeated on Tuesday by Democrat Zach Mullock.
Nevada
David Flippo lost his bid to win the very red second congressional district in Nevada. NV-02 has never elected a Democrat before. Flippo is known for "stolen valor", claiming military honors he never won. Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson defeated Flippo 50% to 44%.
North Carolina
Republican congresswoman Virginia Foxx was so complacent she didn't bother to seriously campaign this year. Rabid homophobe Foxx lost to Chuck Hubbard, who campaigned to represent LGBTQ+ concerns. Earlier this year when a 10-year old boy wrote to Foxx regarding his thoughts on the electric vehicle tax credit, she responded with a letter suggesting he was being indoctrinated with propaganda at school.
The blue wave also claimed Republican congressman Richard Hudson, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Hudson was closely associated with North Carolina's infamous "bathroom bill" targeting the rights of transgender people.
Ohio
Republicans in Ohio must be asking themselves what they were thinking when they nominated the totally unqualified MAGA favorite Vivek Ramaswamy for Governor. For some reason, Ramaswamy thought it wise to run a campaign ad featuring his opponent Democrat Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mother. From The Ohio Capitol Journal: "In the ad, the biological mom, Donna Arthur, calls the Democrat a liar. Court documents show Acton’s stepfather was arrested for raping her as a child, and Arthur lost custody. The couple fled the state to avoid a trial. Acton said she has not seen her mother in nearly 50 years."
Ohio is also rid of congressman Max Miller, who refused to step aside following allegations that he had violently abused his ex-wife and young daughter. Miller was defeated by Democrat Brian Poindexter.
South Carolina
Congresswoman Nancy Mace is leaving Washington. Mace unsuccessfully sought the Governor's office in South Carolina this year rather than run for another term in the US House. Mace is remembered for her effort to ban transgender women from using female bathrooms at the U.S. Capitol in a direct response to the election of Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender person in Congress.
Texas
Where to begin? Democrats swept the statewide races, even going 4-for-4 in ousting Texas Supreme Court Justices.
The biggest wins of the night are the defeats of three-term Governor Greg Abbott and powerful Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. From The New York Times: "For a dozen years, Republicans forced Texas further to the right. Conservative legislators outlawed abortion, banned diversity offices in colleges, legalized the open carrying of firearms on their campuses, and stripped rights from the state’s gay community. They targeted big cities, all run by Democrats, by restricting local control. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick led those efforts."
Democrat James Talarico won a U.S. Senate seat, ending the GOP’s 32-year Texas statewide winning streak. Where to even begin with Republican Ken Paxton? From securities fraud and bribery to spending some of the 2026 campaign season vacationing with a mistress in England, Paxton was one of the most corrupt politicians in American history.
Washington DC
Harmeet Dhillon resigned as the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division on November 5, 2026, following a deeply controversial tenure and the aftermath of the midterm elections. She spearheaded aggressive investigations and settlements against universities targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and pro-Palestinian demonstrations, famously stating, "Either DEI will end on its own or we will kill it". Critics and former DOJ career attorneys accused her of reversing the core mission of the Civil Rights Division. Her tenure included dropping over 50 desegregation cases, ending police department investigations, and halting various Biden-era consent decrees.
Wisconsin
Democrat Rebecca Cooke defeated Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday, on her third try in three elections. Van Orden consistently made himself odious, including such behaviors as creating AI deepfake videos of his Democratic opponent and calling teenage congressional pages "pieces of shit."
Good bye and good riddance all!
