By Sydney Hackenberg
staff writer | hackenbergs@duq.edu

“Your mail-in ballot is sitting on the dining room table.”

This was the text that I woke up to on a sunny, September morning in my dorm room. I was looking forward to going home over fall break to clean out my parents’ fridge, lay around the house all day, take my dog on a walk and most importantly … cast my vote.

That weekend, I carefully opened the ballot, making sure to not rip the contents inside. I meticulously filled in the bubbles for my chosen candidates, resealed the contents into the official envelope and delivered the package to my county elections office.

After voting in the primaries in May, I was counting down the days until the midterm election. A lot of my fellow Gen Zers shared this idea, too. My social media was filled with first-time voters showing off their “I voted” stickers, and the election was the talk of many of my classes.

This year’s midterm election saw historic changes. Many states that were predicted to remain Republican ended up leaning left, in some cases by several points. Kansas, for instance, has not had a Democratic senator hold a seat since 1932, but Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor with no previous federal experience, just beat out Republican incumbent Roger Marshall by about 5%, according to the Associated Press. Hamilton ran on a platform that promoted affordable housing, lowering healthcare costs and ending corruption in Washington, D.C., according to his official website.

There were a lot of notable and historic “firsts” that came in with the votes this past week, too. Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected to be the first Black female governor in the country, representing Georgia. Abdul El-Sayed is the first Muslim senator to be elected, representing Michigan. Annie Andrews became the first female senator to represent South Carolina, and Deb Haaland was elected to be the first female Native American governor, representing New Mexico.

As of Sunday — five days post election day — the Senatorial race in Mississippi has yet to be called. Currently, Scott Colom, the Democratic nominee, holds 49.1% of the vote to incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith’s, the Republican nominee, 48.8% of the vote, according to the AP. While 96% of the votes have been counted, the AP still has yet to call the race. Currently, Colom is leading by just 1,936 votes, but things look optimistic. The margin steadily increased in Colom’s favor, it’s just a waiting game now for the rest of the mail-in ballots to be counted.

The state of Texas also made lots of headlines this week. For the first time since 1988, Texas elected a Democratic senator, James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and member of the Texas House of Representatives. The state saw a drastic shift, helped by the senatorial win of Talarico against Ken Paxton, Texas’s current attorney general and the man who sued the Biden administration 300 times.

Personally, I despise Paxton, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump. He has worked closely with the president for years and even has a photo of the two of them on his official website. The top point featured on his site is about “carrying on the torch for Trump’s agenda.” Paxton’s campaign tended to focus on keeping the most radical, Democratic candidate that Texas has seen, Talarico, from pushing his woke agenda. Paxton noted that Talarico is promoting the ideology of there being multiple genders outside of biological factors and that he is trying to put LGBTQ+ content in Texas schools. While Paxton does not agree with these policies, that does not mean that all of Texas disagrees with it, too. The policies Paxton ran on seemed nonexistent, and instead his agenda consisted of his unending support of Trump. I’m not surprised that Texas didn’t vote for him, but I have a feeling that the newest poll of voters had something to do with his win too.

The youngest group of eligible voters had a lot of swing in this election, me included. Numbers show that 70% of individuals aged 18-29 voted for Democrats in this midterm election, according to The New York Times Voter Trends.

Like many voters in my age group, I know I want candidates that relate to me and are concerned with similar issues. This “next generation” of politicians seems to be appealing to Gen Z, too. Their social media presence is a lot stronger, and they are recognizing the importance of the age group and targeting it accordingly. I think the country can expect an influx of young, fresh faces in future legislators if politicians keep appealing to Gen Z like they have for this midterm election.

With a congressional flip and such a drastic shift in political leadership, Americans were fairly united on what they wanted changed in the country. Pew Research Center reported that 84% of registered voters were concerned with the economy and 73% were concerned with the future of democracy. The rising cost of living is widespread for all Americans. Gas prices, grocery prices and utility bills continue to rise. These rising prices more heavily affect working-class Americans, not the top 1% of billionaires.

The Democratic party is fighting for the working class though, and they seem to have a lot of plans to improve the economy. According to NPR, there are proposals stemming from the Democrats that would decrease healthcare costs and bring about enhanced premium tax credits as well as other economic changes. These are the kinds of policies that Americans were voting for in the midterm election, and it seems like Democratic officials are looking to deliver what most people want.

Honestly, I am excited to see what our newly elected officials will be able to accomplish. It is a breath of fresh air after making it through Trump’s reign over the past couple of years. For the first time in a long time, I can say that I have hope.