Tremendous news! Late on Saturday night, after the latest batch of votes to be counted extended his lead, the Associated Press called the race in California’s 48th Congressional District for Democrat Harley Rouda. With this win, Rouda has defeated none other than Dana Rohrabacher, the Republican best known as “Putin’s favorite congressman,” thanks to an embarrassing affinity for Russian autocracy matched only by Donald Trump’s.
Rouda’s victory gives Democrats their 35th flip (and 33rd net gain) of the 2018 midterms, and with seven races still uncalled, more pickups are looming. Rohrabacher’s loss also cements a profound shift in Orange County, which for the better part of a century had been the blood-red citadel of California conservatism. But like many other affluent and well-educated suburban areas around the country, it reacted with great hostility to Trump, and now voters there are punishing his abettors in the Republican Party. May this trend continue to spread.