We know the Democrats have the uncanny ability to pick and to sink money into the same ol’, boring candidates time after time and last night was the perfect illustration of this.

We go first to Florida, where Democrat, Charlie Crist, was easily upset by Ron DeSantis. This was not Charlie’s first donkey rodeo. In fact, Crist proudly holds the triple-crown title for losing an election as a Democrat, Republican, and independent.

Crist won his first Triple Crown title in 2014 after running as a Democrat in the Florida gubernatorial election and losing to GOP candidate Rick Scott. In 2010, he lost badly to Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) after leaving the Republican Party to run as an independent candidate in a three-way race. As a Republican in 1998, he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent senator Bob Graham (D., Fla.).”-The Washington Free Beacon

The gasps were audible at MSNBC, despite their efforts to put the best-of-the-best in front of the camera to campaign for the Democrats. Here’s John Legend. Fast forward to about 4 minutes in. He’s obnoxious and boring otherwise:

DeSantis is a “cruel and small individual”, says John Legend. Hey John…so is your wife, Chrissy, the online bully.

The “cruel and small individual”. Ron DeSantis, managed to pull Charlie Crist with more than 55% of the vote in Miami-Dade County, a 16-point improvement on his performance in the county in 2018, when he was first elected governor. He won roughly 65% of the vote in majority Hispanic precincts, also a 16-point improvement, narrowly won the vote in majority white precincts and more than doubled his vote share in majority Black precincts, capturing more than 16% of the vote in those areas, according to The Miami Herald.

MSNBC will call this success the result of gerrymandering. Democrats will say Hispanics voted for a “cruel and small individual”.

So far tonight’s results are like an advertisement for DeSantis’ candidacy for Republicans. He waxed his opponent, delivered 3 seats with an aggressive gerrymander in his seat while Trump nominees are running behind Generic R’s all around.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) November 9, 2022

Oh, Chris! Really?

Then there’s Jen Psaki’s take. Florida Latinos “are not the same”, right? Let’s throw around disinformation, too.

Meanwhile, next door in Georgia, where John Legend did his door-knocking, Stacey Abrams loses to Brian Kemp. Must have been all of those “misinformed” Black men, right? All of that misinformation from NBA highlights on YouTube, or something.

Dud.

As we trot on over to Texas, we see the Dems picked a dud yet again. Because Beto O’Rourke was so successful and his first and second try for office, the Dems thought, “why not Beto for governor?”(snort). Going 0 for 3 with three titles, Senate, President and, (until last night’s results) Governor with over $164 million-dollars in funds spent is…(drum roll) Beto O’Rourke.

We’re gonna win. We have to win. There is no alternative.”-Beto O’Rourke

Except there was. His name is Greg Abbott.

Hell no, Beto. You won’t be taking the AR-15 or the AK-47.

You can dress him up in a Vanity Fair feature. You can put him on the cover of GQ, You can even invite him on The View.

He’s still a dud. A dud we didn’t deserve, according to Vanity Fair.

And we bid a fond farewell to Beto O'Rourke, who will launch his 2024 presidential bid next week.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 9, 2022

Sadly, we’re not rid of all of the Democrat duds.

Democratic Sen. Patty Murray has been reelected in Washington. https://t.co/l0TaqhjVvE pic.twitter.com/WBMxXL2tYr

— POLITICO (@politico) November 9, 2022

But we do live to tell the tale of another day. And while some Democrats in Florida and Texas will do their five-finger breathing exercises The New York Times tells them to do if they’re upset, we, who cast our ballots. will survive.

Elections and anxiety often go hand in hand. Here are some evidence-based strategies that can help you cope. https://t.co/Bu9Bq5AVqh pic.twitter.com/WkF7ClDpyA

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 8, 2022

Duds. Or, as The Atlantic calls them, “Superstar Losers”:

A meaningful defeat may be the most Abrams and O’Rourke can hope for: not so much superstar losers as losers with legacies. But losers have a special utility. Winners have to deal with the unglamorous minutiae of actual governance. They have to figure out how to translate campaign promises into concrete policies. They make mistakes, and people get disillusioned, and approval ratings decline. Losers are spared these indignities. Politically speaking, they don’t survive long enough to let anyone down.”-Jacob Stern, The Atlantic

We still have a long way to go but we have made some gains. It may not have been the Red Wave we had hoped for, but there is still hope. We still have a Republic worth saving. And if we still have a few duds to deal with, so be it. Our hope now rests in stagnant talking points and the tired “geniuses” Democrats choose to fund to get those points across. These next two years ought to be fun. Bring on the duds, the Superstar Losers, Dems! We need them to boot the biggest dud of all OUT in 2024.

Photo Credit: Feature Image: DonkeyHotey/edited/CC-BY 2.0