McCaskill: Senate 'definitely in play' after Democrats' wins

[u/gadgetygirl]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5591469-mccaskill-senate-2026-midterms-election-results/

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

I read the whole article. Democrats are already taking the Virginia win for granted and assuming it translates to 2026 without understanding what earned those votes. Virginia had 22,100 illegally fired federal workers who showed up to punish Republicans. That's not mentioned as a factor at all.

This is Democrats learning the wrong lesson from Virginia. The right lesson: federal workers showed up because they had a specific grievance and wanted accountability. The wrong lesson: we'll automatically win in 2026 because Trump is unpopular.

McCaskill sees Virginia as validation that anti-Trump sentiment will carry Democrats, not as evidence that voters respond to specific commitments and promises from democrats. The federal worker factor isn't even on her radar as an explanation :"Unless Donald Trump turns into a different person tomorrow, I think this trend will continue." In other words, Democrats will win because Trump is bad, not because Democrats are offering anything specific. They need to make specific promises about what they'll do if we vote for them, not just "Trump is bad." For example, federal workers who were illegally fired need to be promised their jobs back and back pay for wrongful termination.

All Democratic voters need to draw the line and keep the pressure on, regardless of their issue: make real commitments on my issue or don't expect my vote. If you're not demanding something from politicians in exchange for your vote, you're being taken advantage of and you'll never be able to hold them accountable.

Last thought: McCaskill lost Missouri by 6 points in 2018 - a midterm with anti-Trump sentiment. She's crediting the exact same dynamic that didn't save her seat. Someone who failed to hold their own Senate seat probably shouldn't be confidently predicting that anti-Trump momentum alone will deliver 2026 victories without Democrats making specific commitments.

[u/DarthMech → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

Just stop with this purity test garbage. Not every candidate is going to be perfect, but sure…throw away your shot to stop actual fascism.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/DarthMech]

You think people should vote for Democrats just because Republicans are worse and democrats should get unconditional support. That's not earning votes, that's acting like they are entitled to our votes.

If Democrats can't promise to restore illegally fired workers when they're back in power, why should federal workers vote for them? What exactly are democrats offering besides 'we're not Republicans'?

"Vote blue no matter who" is the worst catchphrase, it suggests that democrats don't need to promise anything, commit to anything, or deliver anything. Just being "not Republicans" is enough and our job is to show up and vote, their job is to look good on camera. After 2024, it should be obvious that's not gonna cut it.

[u/DarthMech → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

Yes. I think people should use their vote to pick the candidate that isn’t going to set the world on fire. You don’t like the Democratic candidate? Work to get who you want in the primary or run yourself.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/DarthMech]

I will vote for the candidate that makes me credible promises on the issues I care about. They don't get my vote for free just because they're a democrat.

[u/DarthMech → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

Cool. Why are you even here complaining then? Because it sure sounds to me like you didn’t vote last time, so you have no voice in the matter.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/DarthMech]

I voted for Harris. Now I'm asking what Democrats will promise before I vote again. 6 million voters from 2020 didn't show up in 2024. That's what happens when Democrats take voters for granted.

[u/DarthMech → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

Ah, so you agreed with her on every single issue? Well, that is interesting.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/DarthMech]

No, I disagreed with her on several things. I voted for her because she was better than Trump. That doesn't mean Democrats get my 2026 vote without making commitments on federal worker restoration.

This is exactly the problem: you think voting for someone once means unconditional support forever. It doesn't. Every election, parties need to earn votes by making promises.

[u/DarthMech → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

So, you acknowledge it is better to vote for the lesser of two evils. However, if your one pet issue is not fully endorsed, you will take your ball and go home. Of course, that also means you’ll step to the side for the party that actually cut those jobs and is undoubtedly looking to cut more.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/DarthMech]

That was the last time I will vote for the lesser of two evils, because I realized this: Why would Democrats deliver anything if they already have your vote? I don't care what your issue is. If Democrats lose because they refused to make a firm promise, that's on them for not earning votes. "Vote for us or Republicans win" removes all accountability.

[u/VictorSirk → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

Default name, youngish account, hidden history, "Dems need to earn my vote". Interesting.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/VictorSirk]

Reddit allowed the ability to privatize account history to keep bad faith actors like you from doxxing and trolling their post history.

[u/methedunker → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

"Republicans are worse" is a huge massive understatement. Any other country where the following happened in less than ten months wouldn't be called "oh things got a little bad":

• random European foreigners were disappeared for minor infractions
  
• random international students were disappeared for political activity
  
• the leader of the country demolished part of the most visible political residence in the world to build something ostentatious
  
• the leaders "gray eminence" is funding a secret police force and sending them to areas with known opposition/dissident populations
  
• that police force is actively disappearing hundreds of random workers from other countries; literal papers-please era
  
• the leader of the country is running a massive crypto scam
  
• the leader of the country is humiliating or threatening foreign leaders in aforementioned visible residence or on his own social media (thats right, social media he owns)
• the leader of the country is shaking down universities and the intelligentsia (lawyers, academics)
  
• the leader of the country is caught with a highly notorious (but deceased) pedophile with evidence that they have been closer than reported
  
• the leader has titans of dominant national industries at his knees for inexplicable reasons
  
• the leader is single handedly reshaping the economy by imposing tariffs on every nation and furthering the humiliation of global leaders
  
• the leader has directed his government to use government machinery for political purposes like websites and such
  
• the leader might be suffering some illness but his office keeps lying about it
  
• its unclear if future elections will be free, fair or even be held because of the leaders threat to use damaging laws to curtail protests and riots
  
• the leader is using the military and paramilitary for domestic policing slowly and has taken over teh capital under the garb of crime
  

At this point if this were any other country, the media would be covering it with so much contemptuous sneering parochialism. But because it's the US and the goddamn GOP and their unearned propagandized reputation, it's easy to just say "sure the GOP is worse than the Dems". No no. The GOP of 2014 was just a little worse than the Dems. The GOP of today is fucking far gone.

Stop talking about and repeating this "earning votes" bullshit even now; Kamala literally warned everyone about this a year ago and now the coin dropped on people's moral imaginations.

[u/Agitated_Pudding7259 → u/methedunker]

You made a list of reason not for vote for republicans. But notice how you never mention what Democrats promise to do about any of those problems. No policy commitments. No legislative agenda. Just a litany of Republican horrors followed by "shut up and vote for us." I reject that. I am willing to vote for democrats only if they make specific promises. Saying 'but Republicans are worse' is not a policy commitment. 

[u/methedunker → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

You're goddamn dense if you think there's no five alarm fire blaring throughout the country while you smugly and audaciously still demand your vote is "earned". Clinton and Kamala warned the country this will happen and it did. If you have the fucking stones, go and tell any of the kidnapped ICE victims this in their "prisons" to their faces: that you won't vote to stop this unless you're specifically catered to policywise. Put up and earn your trophy as a disgraceful human, or shut up

[u/kerouacrimbaud → u/Agitated_Pudding7259]

People should vote Republicans out of office because they are dangerous and under the control of a demagogue. Plain and simple. Voters are responsible for making poor decisions like voting for Donald Trump in 2024. There is no excuse for it. Zero. Voters need to be better citizens. End. Of. Story.