2018 Midterm Election 2018 House of Representatives Elections

Overview

The 2018 United States Midterm Elections are the general elections held virtually the mid-point of President Donald Trump'southward kickoff terms as President of the United States. These elections include state, federal and local elections.

Background

In 2018, all 435 seats in the U.s.a. Firm of Representatives are up for for election, while 35 of the 100 seats of the United States Senate volition be contested. Leading up to the election, many believed that an enormous number of autonomous voters, known colloquially as the "blue moving ridge," would take both the House and the Senate. However, equally the election grew closer, some tempered those expectations, predicting that democrats would take the republican-controlled House, while the republicans would continue to hold the senate.^{[1] [ii] [3]}

Developments

Texas Senatorial Ballot

On March 31st, 2017, United States Representative for Texas's 16th District Beto O'Rourke announced his candidacy for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Senator Ted Cruz. The following March, O'Rourke won the Democratic Political party master with 61.8 of the primary vote.^[iv]

Dna Test Confrontation

On Apr 4th, 2018, YouTuber Tammy Talpas published a video in which she confronts Ted Cruz at a campaign stop in Austin, Texas. In the video (shown beneath), Talpas reads a pre-written argument to Cruz. She says, "I purchase my individual policy on the Wellness Insurance Exchange. If you forcefulness me into a loftier-risk pool, you volition either bankrupt me or kill me. I take your threats of medical assailment personally and seriously; and I tin can assure you lot, I'm non the only Texan who d… who does. My question is: Will you pledge to submit to a DNA exam, to show that you're human?"

May Beto Can't Debate Ted Cruz Because

Maybe Beto Can't Fence Ted Cruz Because refers to a series of parodies made of a tweet by the Texas GOP Twitter account which suggested that Beto O'Rourke could not debate the senator considering he had a gig with his old band, attaching a promotional photo of the politician from when he played with the grouping. The tweet was mocked by many for backfiring and making O'Rourke announced very cool, and was turned into a snowclone in some parodies.

On August 28th, 2018, the Texas GOP Twitter business relationship, @TexasGOP, tweeted an paradigm of Beto O'Rourke and his bandmates in Foss, which played in the 90s. The tweet was meant to show O'Rourke as unprofessional.

Afterwards the tweet was posted, information technology was mocked by many Twitter users for inadvertently making O'Rourke look cool. User @Neighbormania sarcastically tweeted "Definitely don't desire to vote for this cool guy who did fun stuff and had friends," gaining over 380 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown beneath, left). User iCyclone said that he was glad to see an elected official who's "lived life" equally opposed to "walking corpses in suits" (shown below, right).

Ted Cruz Looking at Beto O'Rourke

On September 25th, 2018, Cruz was photographed on an airplane looking at a picture of Beto O'Rourke on his phone. The pictures were tweeted past user @KFILE that morning (shown beneath).

Twitter users joked that Cruz was jealous of O'Rourke in the picture, calculation captions sarcastically calling Cruz relatable and making various other jokes. For example, journalist Elizabeth Bruenig paired the photos with "Howdy Darkness My Old Friend", gaining over 55 retweets and 650 likes (shown below, left).

Lyin' Ted / Beautiful Ted

During the 2022 Republican Primary, Donald Trump nicknamed Cruz "Lyin' Ted," implied his wife was ugly, and defendant Cruz' father of having a role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. During his 2022 midterm bid for reelection, Trump spoke at a rally on Cruz's behalf in Houston, Texas. Prior to the rally, a reporter asked Trump if he still considered Cruz "Lyin' Ted," to which Trump responded that he now calls Cruz "Texas Ted" and "Beautiful Ted."

"To me, he's non 'Lyin' Ted' anymore--he's 'Cute Ted,'" Pres. Trump tells jonkarl</a> about Ted Cruz ahead of Houston, Texas rally. &quot;I call him &#39;Texas Ted.&#39;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/NkJuIoyFEp">https://t.co/NkJuIoyFEp</a> <a href="https://t.co/8ZqutXriQd">pic.twitter.com/8ZqutXriQd</a></p>&mdash; ABC News (ABC) October 22, 2018

The "Beautiful Ted" line was very quickly parodied on social media. People posted humorous images meant to represent "Beautiful Ted." For example, a photoshop of Ted Cruz made to look similar the joker through a kawaii filter tweeted by @cal_beu gained over 90 retweets and 630 likes (shown below, left). User @HireMelmFunny tweeted a parody of the A Star Is Built-in exploitable, gaining over 480 retweets and two,000 likes (shown below, right).

Jake Gyllenhaal's Beto O'Rourke T-Shirt

On November 4th, actor Jake Gyllenhaal posted a photograph on Facebook ^[5] of himself in a Beto O'Rourke for Senate t-shirt with a caption that encouraged people to vote Democratic candidates. The post received more than 20,000 reactions, 1,200 comments and 5,900 shares in two days (shown below).

Conservative fans of Gyllenhaal reacted negatively to the post, creating an outrage confronting his political behavior. Much of this backlash began when the rightwing media company The Bonfire tweeted^[6] the photo with the explanation "You lot don't live in Texas, Jake" (shown beneath, left). Post-obit the mail service, other retweeted the The Blaze and added their ain commentary on why they no longer cared for Gyllenhaal (examples below, center and right).

Results

On Election Day, Republican Senate Ted Cruz held his senate seat, defeating opponent Beto O'Rourke with l.9% of the vote to 48.3%.^[fourteen]

Beyonce Backfire

On November 6th, recording creative person Beyoncé posted a photograph on Instagram ^[twenty] of herself in a Beto O'Rourke lid. She captioned the mail, "I'm feeling grateful for everyone before me who fought then hard to requite the states all the right to have a vocalization. We tin't vocalisation our frustrations and mutter most what's wrong without voting and exercising our power to make it correct. We need y'all. We all need each other, because when we are truly united we are unstoppable. Sending y'all all love and positivity on this happy voting twenty-four hours! Every vote counts Every race matters Everywhere." The postal service received more than than ii.8 million views and i million likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Some disapproved of Beyoncé's postal service, assertive that if she wanted to influence voters past showing support, she should accept done so much before. Twitter^[21] user @tigergood_s tweeted, "Personally, I blame Beyoncé. Sister didn't reveal her endorsement of Beto until the day of the election. Like sis… REALLY SIS" (shown beneath, left). Twitter^[22] user @ayandoesthings tweeted, "That hat should of came a week agone @Beyonce . I know it's non your mistake but this is like your hbo documentary all over once again equally poignant & meaningless" (shown beneath, center).

Others disagreed that people should exist blaming Beyoncé for anything, let alone the O'Rourke loss. Twitter^[23] user @pettyblackgirI tweeted, "it's not Beyoncé'southward fault Beto lost, we know who she voted for. if you wanna blame someone, blame white people who go on to vote for republicans bc they don't care nearly the lives they're putting at stake by voting for bigots." The tweet received more 620 retweets and 2,800 likes in 24 hours (shown below, correct).

Georgia Voting Purge

In early October 2018, investigative journalist Greg Palast warned Georgian voters to cheque if they were nevertheless registered. Last year.^[24] Last twelvemonth, Republican gubernatorial candidate and current Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp incorrectly canceled some 340,000 voter registrations, falsely asserting they had moved out of the state, according to a contempo investigation by Palast.^{[25] [26]} Afterwards, Greg Palast created a website for those to brand sure they were registered.^[27] In after October, leaked audio was institute with Brian Kemp expressing concern over people exercising their right to vote:

"They have merely an unprecedented number of that," he said, "which is something that continues to concern the states, especially if everybody uses and exercises their correct to vote -- which they absolutely can -- and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to commencement that."

White Supremacist Robocalls

In late October and early on November, robocalls were sent out past a white supremacist group targeting specific non-white candidates, including Florida's Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum and Georgia gubernatorial candidate ^{[29] [xxx]}.

Election Day

Voting Issues

On Nov 6th, voters from numerous states reported a multifariousness of issues with voting, including "broken machines, rejected ballots and untrained poll workers improperly challenging Americans' correct to vote." In Georgia and New York, voters reported issues with machines, which led to longer await times, while voting-rights organizations fielded more than 10,000 calls by 11:30 a.m.^[xiii]

Celebrity Votes

On November 6th, Twitter^[nine] compiled a Moments page, documenting the many celebrities that voted and posted about it on Twitter. Former The states First Lady Michelle Obama tweeted,^[10] "#ElectionDay is hither! Information technology's fourth dimension to vote--get to the polls and brand sure every single person you lot talk to today is doing the same. Notice your polling place right at present at http://whenweallvote.org . Because #WhenWeAllVote, we all practise meliorate." The tweet received more than 8,800 retweets and 25,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Media personality and entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey tweeted,^[xi] "I woke upwardly feeling compelled to pray for our country. No matter your spiritual practise, I pray that we ALL remain prophylactic and free from impairment. Pray then #GoVOTE!" The tweet received more than 7,100 retweets and 48,000 likes in 24 hours (shown beneath, centre).

Go Out-director Jordan Peele tweeted,^[12] "Time to leave and vote." The tweet received more than iii,600 retweets and 26,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Results

In the Senate, Republicans held the chamber of Congress, picking up several Senate seats in contentious states, including Missouri and N Dakota, reaching the necessary 51 seat majority. However, the Democratic party retook the Firm of Representatives, ending the night with 220 seats.

As a result of the win, the Democrats gained more than investigative power, assuasive them to subpoena the president and his staff. However, by keeping the Senate, Republicans volition be able to continue to confirm judges unabated.

Some races, withal, were too close to phone call past the finish of the nighttime. With 100% of the reporting in, the Florida Senate race betwixt Rick Scott® and incumbent Neb Nelson (D) volition be decided in a recount because the results were inside a 0.5% margin.^[15] Additionally, the contentious Georgia Governor's race betwixt Brian Kemp and Stacy Abrams volition likely go into a run-off election, asking voters to return to the polls in December 2018.^[16] Abrams states that she is adamant to brand certain every vote is counted, and her campaign managing director confirmed that "there are tens of thousands of absentee ballots around the state, many of them nosotros believe are Abrams voters."

Historical Victories

The 2022 Midterms saw a record-breaking number of women being elected to the House. According to CNN,^[17] "98 women would win House races, with 33 women newly elected to the House and 65 female incumbents. That bests the previous record of 85 representatives." In total, more than 100 women would be serving in the House in side by side year.

Additionally, Democrat Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) and Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) became the commencement Muslim women elected to Congress. Tlaib is also the start Palestinian adult female elected to Congress.

Congress member-elect Ilhan Omar's first words upon taking the phase: asalamu alaikum. The next words: al hamdulillah. "My gramps taught me that when yous see injustice, you fight back. Yous do not requite in to sorrow, you do non give in to sadness. You organize." pic.twitter.com/vyuYOKeC0r

— Hannah Allam (@HannahAllam) November 7, 2018

Throughout the land, more than historic victories were cemented. Colorado elected the country'due south offset openly gay governor Democrat Jared Polis. In his victory speech, he said, "I want to thank … my personal support network -- get-go and foremost, of course, my amazing partner, and the start 'first human being' in the history of Colorado, Marlon Reis." The Texas electorate sent their offset to Latinas to Congress, Sometime El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar and State Senator Sylvia Garcia. Finally, Massachusetts elected it's first black adult female representative, Ayanna Pressley from us 7th commune,^[nineteen]

#NoMenMidterms

#NoMenMidterms and #LetWomenDecide are hashtags associated with a hoax entrada orchestrated by 4chan users encouraging liberal men to abstain from voting in the 2022 midterm elections.

On July 17th, 2018, a thread was submitted to 4chan's /politico/ board about a hoax campaign to spread photoshopped images encouraging "liberal men" to abjure from voting in the upcoming midterm elections (shown below).

Register to Vote Ringlet

Register to Vote Coil is a bait and switch prank in which a social media post advertises a viral or sensational news story, essentially clickbait, but the included link leads to a voter registration course.

Me Voting in 2022 vs. Me Voting in 2018

Me Voting in 2022 vs. Me Voting in 2018 refers to a series of tweets which spread prior to the 2022 The states midterm elections in which users mail ii pictures representing how they felt in the 2022 United States Presidential Election versus how they feel voting in the 2022 U.s.a. midterm elections. The pictures were generally two images of the same character with the latter showing a more than haggard version.

Democrat/Republican Agenda Photoshops

On Nov 6th, Twitter^[vii] user @JordanUhl tweeted two blank screens from a screenshot of CNN with the titles "Democrat Agenda" and "Republican Calendar." They captioned the tweet, "Allow's take some fun. Send me your best ones." The tweet received more than than 70 retweets and 450 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Over the next few hours, people used the screens to create mock "agendas" for each party, exaggerating their understanding of each party and presenting those feelings visually (example below).

That day, Twitter^[8] published a Moments folio about the photoshops.

External References

Superlative entries this week

Recent Videos

There are no videos currently available.

Recent Images (24)

Tags

Entry Editors (4)

Request Editorship

youngbefordow.blogspot.com

Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/2018-united-states-midterm-elections

Share this post