By 
President Donald Trump said, in advance, at a Kentucky campaign stop, he had a gut feeling about the expected results of Tuesday's mid-term national and state elections. He was right. He and his Republican followers lost the House of Representatives. But that was expected and within the statistical norms of most mid-term elections of the past. It went Democrat for the first time in eight years. The victory was a significant win. As a consolation prize, however, the GOP still ruled (and gained ground) in the Senate.
The so-called "Blue Wave" was more like a ripple as Trump won important governor's races in Florida and Ohio but lost gubernatorial races in Kansas, Maine, Illinois and New Mexico.
"Although I am not on the ballot, remember you are still voting for me," the 72-year-old, egotistical President told his core group of followers on several campaign stops last week.
Final results from Arizona and Montana were still not available by 2:30 a.m. EDT.
Democrats and Republicans each won key federal and state victories in a number of states, but the over-riding question of the evening was how the Democrats pulled off their surprising House victory. Here is how they did it, according to the latest CBS poll:
- Democratic voters under 30 made up 67% of the vote. Republicans of the same age, 31%.
- Black Democrats rushed in with 90% of the vote. Black Republicans, 9%.
- Hispanic Democrats came through with 68% of the vote. Republicans, 30%.
- Women Democrats scored 50% of the vote. Republican women put up 39%.
New voters also played a crucial role in Democrats winning the House. Seventeen percent of voters were first-time voters. The majority of those voters cast their House ballot for the Democratic candidate.
Trump lost the House because he gambled his unyielding position on immigration would be the key issue among voters. He was wrong.
Health care is what 40% of voters had on their minds when they went into the voting booth. Immigration issues made up 23% of voters' considerations. The economy, 21% and the gun policy, 11%.
By a 58% to 34% margin, voters said the Democrats would be better able to protect people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Voters concerned with immigration favored Republican candidates, of course. But only half of these voters picked immigration as the most important issue to them.
What does winning the House by the Democrats really mean -- and what could it mean as Trump enters the second half of his first four-year term?
Right off the bat, it means Trump no longer will have the clout he previously had by controlling both the Senate and the House of Representatives. It means Democrats can and probably will immediately shoot off a truck-full of subpoenas to the White House.
It means the Democrats will now be in a position to demand to see Trump's state and federal income tax returns. They will demand to see thousands of emails Trump or his associates may have posted in connection with his personal business ties.
They may demand to know how Trump was able to plant his immediate family in the White House. Although far-fetched, some hard-nosed Democrats may even talk about impeaching Trump as a way to finally removing him from the most powerful position in the world.
Most regrettable of all, however, winning the House by the Democrats means the country remains divided, and will remain divided until Trump leaves the White House forever.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is one individual who likes to think Democratic control of the House will not cause the country to reminded divided as a nation.
The 73-year-old Pelosi may have been chewing or inhaling some variety of weed when she states, "We will have accountability and strive for bipartisanship with fairness on all sides."
She adds, "We will have a bipartisanship marketplace of ideas that makes our democracy strong. We have all had enough of division. Americans want peace. They want results."
