I doubt there’ll be any election surprises tonight. But twelve years ago, in the 1998 midterm elections, at the height of the Lewinsky scandal and the House impeachment investigation, the Democrats overperformed:
Democrats roared back in the midterm elections yesterday, winning impressive victories in crucial Senate and gubernatorial races around the country despite months of dire predictions by Republicans and Democrats that President Clinton’s scandal would drag down his party’s candidates.
While Republicans maintained control of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Democrats’ strong showing, in an off-year election when the party in the White House typically loses seats, made it far less likely that the Congress would move ahead aggressively with its impeachment inquiry of Mr. Clinton.
Yeah, we know how that last part turned out. Still, the Republicans thought they’d make some gains that night, but instead they lost five House seats and had a net gain of zero Senate seats. Several days later, Newt Gingrich stepped down as Speaker of the House.
It was a good night for Democrats; for instance, it was the night Chuck Schumer ousted Al D’Amato from his Senate seat.
Tonight won’t be quite as fun, but it’s nice to reminisce.