I was ready to write a gloomy AM, but, in all honesty, I can't. The Red Wave did not happen in Washington and, for that matter, the US. The GOP appears to have won where they were expected to win and not much else. Roevember, however, did not happen either. And what the Big Picture tells us is that the US will not show a clear direction on defining social issues until 2024. Even if the Dems hold onto the Senate, its composition will likely not be any different from that of the past two years. The grip Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have on their party will continue. That is where we are now. Not horrible, but not great either.

The general feeling about Tuesday was expressed by the Washington Post:

Democrats showed strength in key battleground races Tuesday, potentially defying Republican hopes of sweeping victories in the midterm elections and leaving control of Congress hanging in the balance the morning after millions of Americans went to the polls.   

Everything you need to know about our local races and initiatives can be found in SEBC's superb roundup. And, truth be told, we are not as screwed as we thought we'd be today. The blueness of Seattle, King County, and Washington state seems to be more resilient than many thought.

As the Portland Mercury reported, the race for governor in Oregon is too close to call. Democrat Tina Kotek leads her opponent, Republican Christine Drazan, by only two percent. 

Oregon voters, however, did pass "one of the country’s strictest gun control measures." The Oregonian:

The measure will require Oregonians to obtain a permit to buy a gun after completing a firearms safety course and would ban the sale or transfer of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

The Senate race between Patty Murray and Tiffany Smiley was, it turns out, never close. Washington state will not have a "new mom." And why did Smiley lose so soundly? My theory is this: She picked a poor time to hate on the Seattle Seahawks. Maybe it would have worked last year, when Russell Wilson was around and the fans were desperate to keep him in town, even if he wasn't winning games. But not this year, when the team is beating all expectations with new players and a quarterback, Geno Smith, who "is making football fun again."  

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez unexpectedly has a convincing lead over MAGA Joe Kent. This is indeed a big surprise. Vancouver, please (even pretty please) make at least one of our dreams come true.  

It was indeed not a good night for Trumpism. Not only did "voters shun election-denier secretary of state candidates," but Florida's governor, Ron De-Sanctimonious, won by a landslide, something that will certainly make an impression on the GOP, which still calls Trump its leader.

Dems need to give up not only on Florida but also on Texas and Ohio. Beto O’Rourke went down in flames in the Lone Star State. As for Wisconsin, the Dem governor, Tony Evers, retained power, but in the Senate race between rational Mandela Barnes and loony Ron Johnson, lunacy prevailed.

John Fetterman has become the Dems' biggest new star overnight. He beat that quack and, along with Josh Shapiro, made Pennsylvania very blue. Furthermore, Shapiro gets to pick the Secretary of State, which is nothing but bad news for the GOP's sinister 2024 election schemes.

Speaking of quackery, Plato wrote somewhere in The Republic that the difference between a doctor and a quack is found in this single fact: the former is all about the patient and the latter is all about themselves. Goodbye, Dr. Oz.

Meanwhile, in Tennessee: 

 
 
 
 
 
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And in Oregon: Voters decided that slavery can't be used as punishment for a crime. It is 2022. 

And in Iowa: 

Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that he plans to show more than 11,000 of his employees the door. He promises to feel something while they are exiting.

Zuckerberg letter to Meta:

Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history... I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.  

Can we talk about the weather? Seattle is cold right now (a low of 33 degrees). My cats want nothing to do with it and will not move from any spot that's kept warm by a heat pump. But they enjoyed the long and horribly hot summer. Do they (gray cat and black cat) remember how happy they were just only a few weeks ago? Or do cats only live in the present? If it's hot, it's hot forever. If it's freezing, it's freezing until the end of all time. Is this what it's like to be a cat?      

Let's end AM with Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's sad but beautiful "Autumn in Seattle":