According to CAIO and the sources shown here, some $2.3 trillion dollars in market value has been lost from 11.2.2026 to the close of the market on 11.4.2026. While markets tend to react sharply to certain events and recover, there is an open question if that will be the case in this instance. Why? Because much of the growth in construction spending in the U.S. has been data centers and power generation. The Democratic electoral victories in much of the U.S. could put such construction spending at risk. But we are in Florida, where Republicans did better. The Governor-elect is Byron Donalds (R) vs. ex-Republican turned Democrat David Jolly. Ashley Moody (R) defeated Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member Angie Nixon (D) for the U.S. Senate seat. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called a special session to address to address property tax cuts as a result of Amendment 3.
It is entirely understandable – on an emotional, frustration or protest vote level – that some prior Trump-Vance-Republican voters either sat out the midterms or flipped their votes to Democrats. While it is too soon to tell who the various candidates will be in 2026, it would be no surprise if a Democratic Socialist candidate like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-D) would emerge on that side of the two parties. On the Republican side, J.D. Vance may well have let his opportunity slide by making remarks that included these words.
“The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we’re going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation 3) Put America First 4) Change our relationship to Israel Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.) In the next few months, there’s going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I’m open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there. I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.</p>— JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href=”https://x.com/JDVance/
Some of the betting markets say Gov. DeSantis may be emerging as better positioned to win the GOP nomination for president in 2028.
As an independent, it is sad that neither major party – Democrat or Republican – was ‘listening’ to voters in much of the country. Some 35 years ago, yours truly sent in a letter to the editor of East Texas newspaper calling for a new third-party. That isn’t my message today, not because it isn’t needed, it is. But rather because the money required to launch such an effort is so great that even the supposedly world’s richest man, Elon Musk backed away from it when he initially said he would make such a move.
What that means is voters have to make the most of the two parties that currently exist.
It is the primaries when the decisions are made as to who will represent this or that party. Watch for what happens in the weeks and months ahead, because for the many – like yours truly – who watched their 401Ks take a hit in the wake of Tuesday’s results that will hand Congress over to Democrats.
Emotion shouldn’t drive voting. Sober thinking should, even when the candidates are less than ideal. ##
By L. A. “Tony” Kovach, publisher and co-founder of MHProNews, MHLivingNews, HousingWire contributor and previous op-eds via the Lakeland Gazette here.
— Robert, that blurb from J.D. Vance is the x.com embed code. Vance’s x-account is linked here.