Win, lose, draw

Both Republicans and Democrats took away victories this week from midterm elections that saw near-presidential turnout and portend even deeper disunion in an already deeply divided nation.

Democrats picked up at least seven governorships and took control of the U.S. House, winning more than two dozen seats to gain a majority.

By midday Thursday, some races were still too close to call, but some analysts predicted that Democrats might end up taking as many as 38 seats, the largest gain for the party in four decades.

More than 100 women, most of them Democratic, were elected to Congress. Two are Muslim, marking a historic first.

Republicans, though, made a strong showing in deep red states and not only kept control of the Senate, but added two seats to their majority.

Wins scored by Democrats will likely mean that President Donald Trump and those in his orbit will be plagued going forward with subpoenas and investigations.

Even as results were still coming in Tuesday night, Democrats, after securing the House majority, pledged to subpoena Trump’s tax returns and conduct investigations into alleged corruption within the administration – duties that party leaders say were ignored while the House was under GOP control.

The mixed-bag of midterm wins and losses may also signal Trump’s loosening grip on some areas of the country. Of the 33 candidates he endorsed on Twitter, only 12 won their races.

While voting trends changed in some parts of the country, that was not the case in Hood County, which has been deeply red for several decades. Ballots cast in this election reflected loyalty to the GOP.

Of those who voted straight-party, 86 percent (14,036 voters) voted Republican, according to unofficial results provided by the Elections Administration office. Thirteen percent (2,182) straight-party tickets were for Democrats and .56 percent (91) went to Libertarians.

By 2020, straight-party voting will no longer be allowed in Texas.

A total of 25,069 ballots were cast, representing 61 percent of Hood County’s 40,847 registered voters. Of total ballots cast, 15,864 were cast during the two-week early voting period.

Turnout for the 2018 midterm election both nationwide and in Hood County eclipsed that of the 2014 midterms and in some areas shattered records. In Hood County, 15,435 voters cast ballots in the 2014 contest. In the 2016 presidential election, turnout here totaled 26,508.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

Hood County voters joined the rest of District 11 in voting overwhelmingly to send U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, back to Washington D.C. The accountant has represented the district since 2005.

District-wide, Conaway triumphed over Democratic challenger Jennie Lou Leeder with 80 percent of the vote (174,749 ballots) to Leeder’s 18 percent (40,028).

The vote split in Hood County closely mirrored the district’s. Conaway scored 82 percent of the vote (20,147) to Leeder’s 17 percent (4,123). Libertarian candidate Rhett Rosenquest Smith snagged 1.32 percent of the vote, which represented 325 ballots.

The soft-spoken Conaway, a member of the House Intelligence Committee (HIC), was thrust into the national spotlight earlier this year when he ended the HIC’s Russia investigation, saying that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia.

In response, the committee’s top-ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff of California, issued a 21-page memo detailing leads that Democrats said the Republican-dominated committee should have investigated and 30 witnesses that should have been interviewed.

With the shift in power brought by the midterms, Schiff is now poised to take over leadership of that committee.

Schiff stated on election night that Democrats may reopen the investigation depending on what happens with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller’s team has thus far indicted or gotten guilty pleas from 32 people and three companies. Included in that group are four former Trump advisers, all of whom have pleaded guilty.

Pundits predicted that Mueller was waiting until after the mid terms to issue further subpoenas and grand jury indictments.

As midterms approached, Trump ceased his frequent Twitter attacks on the Mueller probe. However, he renewed those attacks the morning after the election, tweeting that the investigation is a “Witch Hunt” led by “Angry Democrats.”

By Wednesday afternoon – less than 24 hours after polls closed – Trump had asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign and named as acting attorney general Sessions’ chief of staff, who has publicly criticized the Mueller investigation and detailed ways in which it could be deliberately derailed. Thursday night, more than 1,000 #ProtectMueller rallies were held nationwide.

SENATE RACE

In a nail-biter race that captured the nation’s attention, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who faced a strong and surprising challenge from Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, was handed a second six-year term.

Hood County often closely mirrors votes cast statewide in terms of percentages, but this race was an exception. While Cruz received 51 percent of the vote statewide, he scored an 80 percent vote of confidence (20,074) in Hood County.

O’Rourke won 48 percent of the ballots cast statewide, but just 19 percent (4,714) in Hood County.

A Libertarian candidate, Neal M. Dikeman, received just .78 percent of the vote statewide and, curiously, the exact same percentage in Hood County, representing 195 local votes.

Though O’Rourke’s defeat was a crushing loss for Democrats, the fact that he posed a serious challenge to Cruz at all was a victory in itself.

Texas has not elected a Democratic U.S. Senator in 30 years, not since Lloyd Bentsen was elected in 1988. O’Rourke lost by 2.7 percent, or 223,091 votes out of more than 8.3 million cast, according to numbers that were on the Secretary of State’s website Wednesday afternoon.

O’Rourke’s threat to Cruz was made more significant by the fact that he refused to accept donations from Political Action Committees (PACs) and relied on individual donations of $1,200 or less, yet still managed to raise more money than any other Senate candidate in U.S. history after entering the race as a virtual unknown.

His nipping at Cruz’s heels could be a warning sign for Republicans as attention turns to the 2020 presidential election.

OTHER RACES

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton all won reelection against Democratic and Libertarian challengers.

Hood County voters strongly favored all three Republicans.

Abbott won 84 percent (20,848) of the local vote, Patrick garnered 79 percent (19,697) and Paxton, 79 percent (19,502).

kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258.