I cannot wait to vote for this man for President. Cannot. Wait.

Teachers are not really supposed to talk politics or endorse candidates in class, right? I get why that’s an expectation, although I don’t like it very much, and I think most teachers feel the same way, more or less. I have never confirmed how I have voted on any issue, although I have said things like “you have met me; your guess is probably correct” to kids before. But I will say that it was interesting to drag myself into work today, bleary-eyed and sticky in the weird way that one is after a night with little sleep, and notice just how many of the teachers in the building happened to be wearing blue. I was wearing a burgundy polo shirt, for no better reason than it was the first shirt I touched when I reached into my closet this morning, but I did make sure that all of the LED lights in my classroom were blue today. For some reason.

We were supposed to have state testing today, but it had to be cancelled at the last second because of some sort of tech issue that was either district-wide or originated at the state level, I’m not quite sure. But cancelling testing meant that everyone in the building had planned for very short class periods today and suddenly we all found ourselves with an extra 25 minutes in each class period to contend with. My car had a cylinder timing issue, and got towed to the mechanic yesterday, and after work I had to go pay for the repair, then take my rental back to the airport, then go back to the mechanic to actually pick my car up. So I didn’t get home until 6:30, which in Indiana in November is pitch fucking black. To say today was exhausting is to slightly understate things, I think.

All of that is prelude to say that last night was successful beyond my wildest dreams; I was somewhat willing to be optimistic about Texas, Maine and Michigan, but … Kansas? Mississippi??? And to be honest I’m not sure how the hell we lost Louisiana, because with all the vote that was still out in East Baton Rouge and New Orleans when I went to bed, that should have been plenty to take the win. Lauren Boebert is out. Virginia fucking Foxx is out. Kris Kobach is unemployed. Vivek Ramaswamy can slink back into the pile of semi organic goo he slithered out of. It was a good fucking night.

I don’t want to rain on my own parade, but I do think we all need to brace ourselves for an epic level of fuckery in the next two and a half months. There’s been surprisingly little yammering about the election being fixed so far, at least from what I’ve seen (and, of course, I’ve been at work all day) and it may be that we won so big that allegations of shenanigans simply can’t take hold. There’s going to be some bullshit, though. Probably a lot of bullshit. I hope the Democrats are ready for it.

And then, next January, I want these fuckers to hit the ground running, and I want this administration torn to shreds. No mercy, no quarter, and no pause. I want hearings, I want arrests, and I want fundamental fucking change. Some of these people are going to turn out to be Blue Dogs again, even if they aren’t calling themselves that (I’m looking your way, Josh Turek, and I’m very much prepared to not like you if you turn out to be another Fetterman,) but I have to feel like our majorities are big enough that we can absorb the occasional defection from a conservative Democrat from a red state. I mean, Christ, look at this:

I didn’t see anybody predicting an 83 seat majority. I sure as hell didn’t see anyone predicting what could be a 56 seat Senate, either. The first thing I want out of all of these people is a robust discussion about who leadership is going to be. I’m not as down on Hakeem Jeffries as a lot of people– the man has done a remarkable job holding his coalition in the House together over the last couple of years– but I am entirely willing to lose Chuck Schumer, and I don’t want to see either of them simply coronated.

I’m going to take a shower and go to bed early now. Regardless of whatever’s coming next, I feel a lot better about being an American right now than I did a couple of days ago.