The Democrats took the House of Representatives on Tuesday night, but was it a “wave”?
Flipping dozens of House seats across the nation is nothing to sneeze at. In recent history, this would be called a wave. Still, to many observers, it felt anticlimactic; they felt conflicted that Republicans were simultaneously adding to their majority in the Senate. Calling this a wave, in that context, required some cognitive dissonance.
The dichotomy between the House and the Senate cannot be overstated. Granted, the Senate map always favored Republicans. Still, they exceeded expectations. Likewise, history suggested that Democrats might have a good shot at taking back the House, but they still had to execute. They did.