With the midterm elections in our rearview mirror, we as a nation must now look forward to see what progress can be made. Once again our government is divided by what party controls what part of our legislature, and this will no doubt serve to stir the politically charged rhetoric and conflict that we have seen over the past few months.

Now we must see how the election will affect the legislature of our state and our nation, and evaluate what it will take for the two parties to come together to continue down the path to cooperation.

The outcome in Missouri: Amendments, Senators and more

From the perspective of Missouri politics, a lot of change has occurred namely in our state legislation and national representation.

Photo via Miranda Mullings.

Claire McCaskill, the incumbent Democratic senator for Missouri, was defeated in her re-election bid against Republican Josh Hawley. Hawley was the attorney general for Missouri, elected in 2016 and sworn into office in 2017.

The campaign between Hawley and McCaskill was a tough one with both candidates focusing their ads on trying to discredit their opponents. Hawley beat out McCaskill by a margin of roughly 6 percent, about 144,355 votes. This was the only major upset in the state, as Missouri’s representatives for the House remained the same.

Gerrymandering, minimum wage and marijuana

There were three big topics passed on the ballot for Missouri this election that will affect our state’s constitution, legislature and economy.

The first of these is Amendment 1, a proposal dubbed “CLEAN Missouri.” The campaign would involve an overhaul of Missouri’s system for re-districting, moving more power to a neutral party and away from the individuals in power to ensure fair elections in the future. The amendment would also place limits on donations to government officials and on lobbyists.

An increase to the state’s minimum wage was also passed, raising it from $7.85 to $12 by 2023. The increase will happen gradually over time, increasing to $8.60 in January 2019. Missouri is following a trend started by other states earlier this year; some increasing minimum wage as high as $15 an hour. Arkansas is another state that increased their minimum wage last Tuesday, from $8.50 an hour to $11 by 2021.

Another big change for the state was the passing of Amendment 2. The amendment proposed the legalization of medical marijuana across the state with a tax of 4 percent. The tax revenue from the sales, projected to be around 20 million dollars, will be used to help fund health services for veterans in the state.

Missouri is joining the other 33 states across the U.S. that have legalized marijuana in some manner, either medically or for recreational use. Two other states, Utah and Michigan, legalized marijuana this week as well; Utah for medical use, and Michigan for recreational use.

National results: A divided legislature

Despite Republicans gaining a few seats in the Senate, the real upset of the election was the victories and ground gained by the Democratic Party. The so-called “Blue Wave” was a movement promoted by Democrats to get more people to go out and vote, causing a wave of Democratic victories in Congress.

The Republicans retained control of the Senate, gaining a few seats in the process, as we saw with the Senate race in Missouri. The House on the other hand was flipped, with Democrats controlling 222 of the 435 seats, securing a narrow majority.

Obstructionism? Or playing the field?

With the Democrats in control of the House of Representatives for the next two years, they have the ability to pull the government to a halt at their whim. Democrats will be the heads of House committees, and thus will have the power to influence laws that are made, or in all likelihood, never started.

The loss of the House will surely upset the status quo of the government. For the past two years, President Trump has been able to work with a legislature that was controlled entirely by the Republican Party, allowing him some freedom to pass bills through. While this may not have always worked, theoretically, he should have been able to pass anything that he wanted.

Now, with the loss of the House, Trump will do something that he hasn’t had to in his time as president: negotiate. The Democrats in the House will no doubt be looking to pump the breaks on Trump’s administration, bringing a new check to his presidential powers.

If we have any hope of progress being made, it is for both sides of the aisle to come together and cooperate. Representative Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday afternoon that the two parties “have a responsibility to seek common ground.”

According to statements made by President Trump, it is believed that Nancy Pelosi will become the new Speaker of the House, though the position has not yet been announced.

Change and stability across the U.S.

The outcomes in other states have shown that many Americans were looking for change from the midterm election. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Kansas, beat out her competitor, Kris Kobach, for Kansas’s gubernatorial race. With re-districting coming up in 2020, Kelly will be able to help re-draw districts in the state that could place Democrats in control in the near future.

The U.S. has also made strides in its representation in our national legislature. Two women elected to the House of Representatives, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, are the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress.

Their party, the Democratic Socialists of America, also counts New York congressional nominee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as one of their members. Ocasio-Cortez is the youngest woman to ever be elected. This election ended with a record-breaking 112 women headed to seats in Congress, eclipsing the previous record of 107.

The election was not without its upsets though. Texas Senator Ted Cruz retained his seat, winning against his Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke by a slim margin of 2 percent, or 223,042 votes. The race between the two was close throughout the year, with O’Rourke and Cruz going back and forth in the polls for quite some time.

An overturned status quo

With the election tipping the scales of our federal legislature back towards a system of balance, it is apparent that now more than ever we must work as a nation to achieve the goals that we want. Any bill or law that will be passed will need the approval of the Democratic controlled House to make it to the president’s desk.

If we are lucky, the two parties will be able to do away with the partisan conflict that has plagued the U.S. for the last two years. Maybe then, we can begin to see the parties, and our nation, coming back together.

Article by Ryan Smith.