The midterm election results are in and voters’ reactions are mixed.
The predictions before election day of a “red wave” were far from reality — except in Florida — surprising many but not all.
“I didn’t find it surprising that Democrats won so many state-level seats and the Senate, but those results are still being counted,” FAMU student Jala Johnson said.
Unforgettable moments before the midterms, such as the Jan. 6, 2001, insurgency at the Capitol and the Roe v. Wade decision in June, were when people like Johnson, an independent voter, realized this year’s election would not go as planned.
“I just knew that we young people weren’t going to go for that again, and we weren’t going to have people in power that would ever allow something like January 6 to happen again.”
While some voters were confident in the midterm election’s outcome, others were perplexed by the local congressional race pitting two incumbents: Dunn v. Lawson.
Neal Dunn, a Republican, won the Second District in Florida against Al Lawson, a Democrat, who served for 28 years in the state Legislature as a member of the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate.
Lawson represented District 5 in Congress for the past six years, but at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ urging that majority-minority district was redrawn and it no longer included Leon and Gadsden counties.
Some voters believe DeSantis played a significant role in Lawson not being reelected, and the re-drawn districts are currently being challenged in court.
The outcome of the Kemp v. Abrams race for governor of Georgia also didn’t sit well with some voters.
Brian Kemp, a Republican and the incumbent, won the governor’s race in Georgia against Stacey Abrams, a Democrat.
“For Black women, Stacy Abrams’ loss ‘feels like a punch in the gut,” The Washington Post said after Abrams lost her rematch bid for Georgia governor after years of organizing voters in the state.
Black voters turned out in record numbers for Abrams, including 87% of Black men, dispelling the myth that the lack of support from Black men was the reason Abrams lost.
“When I saw the numbers the next morning, I was shocked and a little disheartened because I felt she deserved to win. She put in the work grabbing the voters, especially young and new voters,” Johnson said.
Nya Wimes, a Democrat voter, was angry and in disbelief by Florida’s governor’s race results.
DeSantis, a Republican, won the governor’s race in Florida against Charlie Crist, a Democrat. Crist was formerly a Republican.
“It made me sick to my stomach to see DeSantis reelected. It blows my mind that voters in Florida made the decision after everything he said and done to reelect him.”