Repubs Win. Now They Need to be Winners

Republicans have taken control of the Senate and increased their majority in the House. As of this writing, the Republicans have taken seats in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, West Virginia, Iowa, and North Carolina. They have held on to Georgia (without the runoff that was predicted) and Kansas. They’ve also won in Louisiana but that will go to a run off in December before it’s completely decided.

They still have an outside chance at Virginia and Alaska’s polls haven’t closed yet.

The Republicans thus gained seven seats, and likely an eighth in Louisiana in December. If they manage to gain Alaska, that will make nine.

They also held on to Governors in Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida.

But how did they win? It wasn’t due to their message. It was more that they were the recipients of the voters choosing against President Obama rather than choosing the Republicans.

There will be 32 seats up for election in the Senate in 2016 along with the President. Only nine of those seats in the Senate are Democrat held seats. Of those, Mark Kirk in Illinois, John McCain of Arizona, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and David Vitter of Louisiana would seem to be the most vulnerable. McCain because he’ll be 80 in 2016, Kirk because Illinois is a Democrat state as Wisconsin may be left leaning.

Of all of those running, the only one with a complete message and plan was Ed Gillespie in Virginia, but not much attention was paid because everyone thought Mark Warner would win easily. Now it’s too close to call. Gillespie has an outside chance at winning.

If the Republicans take this election as a message that the American people have chosen their message, they’d better review what their message was. If they want to maintain control of the Senate in two years, they will need to come up with definitive plans on what their agenda will be.

They’d best have a position and ideas on immigration (which they will likely be tested with in weeks), the economy, eliminating Obamacare after 2016 and a solution to how to handle ISIS and to protect this country from terror attacks. If they don’t, or they choose to believe that they were chosen on their merits this time, they will find themselves back in the minority in the Senate in two years and possibly not get the White House.

The American voters seemed to have made a choice this time between holding Obama responsible for all of this nations ills or blaming the Congress with it being a toss up between Republican and Democrats and the Republicans just got lucky that Democrats were blamed more than the Republicans were.

The Republicans in the Senate better find a way to work together between the establishment Republicans and the Tea Party Republicans and then work with the Republican held House.

One thing that is likely to help them is Obama being what he is, the American people will likely find out that the so-called party of “no” isn’t the Republicans but that Obama is the one that can’t and won’t work with the Republicans.

The Republicans had better drive their ideas home and their differences with Obama, in the press often. They have to make the American people understand their positions and how they will benefit people. If they don’t, Obama will not only get the last word, he’ll be getting the only word. That word will be that the Republicans are at fault.

They will likely hold hearings now on the IRS, NSA, Benghazi and Hillary’s role, Fast and Furious and the other scandals, but that shouldn’t be the only thing they talk about. They’d best look to the future as well as holding those accountable for the past.

They won the election, now they need to win the future for the American people to be the winners. 

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett