I have two good friends who are eternal optimists. Part of it, they say, is due to their Hampshire College backgrounds, but it seems more than that. 

The glass is always half-full for these two, even when we meet to watch football every Sunday and my New York Giants are trailing late in the second half. “Hold on, they still have a chance” is a near-constant refrain from these two.

It’s annoying.

So, of course, when we gathered over the past month at our favorite local establishment, they were hopeful about the election, pointing out the positivity in the polls and a belief in the American electorate doing the right thing.

I told them they were nuts. 

I said political polls have been getting it wrong regularly for a while now, and after the American electorate voted for Donald Trump twice, why believe now that voters were going to do the right thing and give control of Congress over to the Democrats? 

I was… skeptical.

Boy, was I wrong. And the polls were… right? Sort of, I guess.

I still believe trying to predict what American voters will do is a fool’s errand. I’m not a fan of horse-race reporting; never have been, never will be. And we saw plenty of it in the days and weeks leading up to the election. There are major issues of substance facing voters, yet all too often journalists lean on the scoreboards provided by polls. My students often hear me talk about “peeling back the onion” to get at the heart of stories, and leaning on polls night after night doesn’t do that. 

But last Tuesday night was definitely a night that defied all expectations, even those of my optimistic friends. How do you describe what happened that night? As a journalism educator, I spend a lot of time working with students on how to summarize events, interviews, studies, etc. How do you summarize Tuesday night? 

Historic? It’s such a trite, overused phrase, but not as overused as “blue wave.” I told my students this week that they saw history being made on election night and that they needed to sit and absorb what happened.

Consider this Twitter post from CNN’s Oscar Jimenez:

  • First Black female governor in U.S. history 
  • First Muslim Senator 
  • First openly gay Senator 
  • First female Native American Governor
  • First female Native American Senator
  • First Latina Governor in Texas history
  • First female Governor in Ohio history
  • First elected female Senator in South Carolina history
  • First Black Governor in Florida history
  • First elected Latino governor in California history
  • First Kansas Democratic Senator this century/in 94 years
  • First Congress set up for Black Speaker of the House

That’s quite a list.

Last Tuesday night was a renunciation of white nationalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-intellectualism, anti-environmentalism; the list goes on and on. Several of my students told me they cried Tuesday night. The emotional relief is palpable. The hatred and coarseness of public discourse were overwhelmingly knocked down Tuesday night.  

Does the midterm election signal a return to civility and compromise? I hope so. It’s up to the Democrats now. To quote one of my favorite sports clichés: “It’s in their court now.”

There’s a lot of hope in this country right now. It’s been a minute since we Americans have had such a feeling of genuine hope.  

I would even say I’m optimistic. Blame my Sunday pals. 

Steve Fox is a senior lecturer and sports journalism director for the Journalism Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.