While everyone is celebrating the enormous blue wave that swept across America last night, I think we’re overlooking what may be the most important story of this election. It isn’t simply that Democrats won. It isn’t even the extraordinary number of Republican strongholds that fell. It’s what the American electorate told us about the kind of country it wants to be. After years of being told that diversity was dangerous, inclusion was destroying America, and being woke was somehow a threat to civilization, the American people went to the polls and elected one of the most remarkably diverse groups of leaders in our nation’s history. And I think we need to spend a little time talking about that.
Look at what happened. Texas elected Gina Hinojosa, its first Latina governor, sending Greg Abbott packing. Nevada elected Aaron Ford, its first Black governor. Georgia elected Keisha Lance Bottoms, its first Black governor and the first Black woman governor in American history. New Mexico elected Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman to become a governor. Minnesota elected Peggy Flanagan, the first Native American woman to serve in the United States Senate. New Hampshire elected Chris Pappas, the first openly gay man elected to the Senate, and Michigan elected Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to that same institution. All of this happened in one election. One extraordinary night in American history.
Now think about what we’ve been subjected to over the past several years. Donald Trump and his political movement have turned diversity, equity, and inclusion into something resembling dirty words. They’ve spent an extraordinary amount of time convincing Americans that our differences are somehow responsible for everything wrong with this country. They’ve attacked immigrants, demonized transgender people, questioned the qualifications of minorities, and treated efforts to make our institutions more inclusive as though they were some sinister conspiracy. Apparently, the greatest threat to American civilization was the possibility that someone who didn’t look, worship, or love like them might actually get a seat at the table. And millions of Americans just told them what they thought of that nonsense.
I don’t believe for one moment that everyone who voted yesterday was thinking about diversity or inclusion when they cast their ballot. People are worried about the economy, healthcare, the future of their children, and the direction of this country. But that’s precisely what makes these results so remarkable. Voters looked at candidates who represented different races, religions, backgrounds, and sexual orientations, and decided those differences weren’t reasons to disqualify them. They judged them on their ability to lead. What a revolutionary fucking concept.
And perhaps that’s the part of this election that deserves the most attention. For years we’ve been told that America is hopelessly divided, that we should fear our neighbors, and that embracing our differences somehow threatens our national identity. We’ve watched fear become a political industry, with an endless parade of manufactured enemies and imaginary dangers designed to keep people suspicious of one another. Yet last night, across states with very different histories and political traditions, Americans made choices that challenged that entire narrative. They didn’t suddenly erase prejudice from the country. They didn’t solve the problems of racism, homophobia, or religious intolerance. But they demonstrated that those prejudices do not have to determine who gets elected to lead us.
There is something deeply American about that. We are not a nation of people who all look alike, pray alike, think alike, or love alike. We never have been. This country has spent much of its history struggling, often violently, with that reality. Progress has never been a straight line, and anyone who thinks one election magically fixes generations of injustice hasn’t been paying attention. But there are moments when the American people remind us that the promise of this country is still very much alive. I think last night was one of those moments.
What I find particularly interesting is that the very people who have spent years screaming about woke ideology may have completely misunderstood what many Americans actually believe. Most people don’t need a political lecture about diversity to understand that their neighbors deserve dignity and respect. They don’t need an elaborate ideological argument to accept that a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, a gay man, a Latina, or a Black woman can be perfectly capable of representing them. They simply need to recognize another human being. Imagine that.
So yes, I’m celebrating the political earthquake that happened last night. I’m celebrating the victories, the historic firsts, and the possibilities those victories represent. But more than anything, I’m celebrating the fact that millions of Americans demonstrated that fear and division are not the only forces capable of moving this country. There is still room for decency. There is still room for acceptance. There is still room for the radical notion that our differences are not weaknesses to be eliminated but part of what makes this country worth fighting for.
Maybe woke is back. Maybe diversity, equity, and inclusion aren’t the terrifying monsters we’ve been told they are. Or maybe, just maybe, the American people never abandoned those ideals in the first place. Maybe the loudest voices in the room simply convinced us that they spoke for everyone.
Last night suggests they didn’t.
And that, my friends, is a story worth telling.
© Steven LaChance
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