You could, at least, argue that Cap'n Two Scoops unquestionably is the king of diversity despite himself, because the late, great, beautiful election of 2026, produced by his own stupidity and bungling, produced an extraordinary list of firsts and mosts:
- Most black senators: 6 (at least) up from 5.
- Most black governors: 5 up from 1!
- Most women governors: 17 up from 14.
- First Black woman governor: Keisha Lance Bottoms (D), Georgia.
- First black Republican governor: Byron Donalds (R), Florida.
- The nation's two biggest states, California and Texas, have their first Hispanic governors: Xavier Becerra, (D) California1 and Gina Hinojosa, (D) Texas.
- Most Chinese representatives: 6 up from 5.
- First Muslim senator: Abdul El-Sayed (D) Illinois.
- First Native American senator: Peggy Flanagan (D) Minnesota
- First openly gay man as senator: Chris Pappas (D) New Hampshire.
Here is the lineup of governors of the five largest states in the U.S.: California, Hispanic man; Texas, Hispanic woman; Florida, black man; New York, Kathy Hochul2 (D), white woman; Illinois, JB Pritzker, Jewish. Not too shabby!
Perhaps sweetest of all was something I never dared hope for: good karma! Yes, the Republican war on “guaranteed” black seats (guaranteed by provisions of the 1965 Civil Rights Act), which were effectively banned by the Supreme Court in 2026,3 backfired—not by actually increasing the number of black seats—that would have been a little too much to ask for—but by transferring black (and largely Democratic) voters into formerly safe Republican districts, rendering them in play when Democrats were pumped and Republicans stumped. Which, in 2026, came about in spades.4
Most of this, of course, was the result of the Blue Tsunami, the biggest wipeout since David Hasselhoff hung up his board. And most of that was, unfortunately, the result of Trump getting it wrong—horrifically wrong—rather than the Democrats getting it right. The American people in general had the moral decency to be offended by Trump’s police state approach to the immigration non-problem, Hispanics in particular. Most of the rest of the reaction was due to Trump’s “innate” stupidity, believing that tariffs would generate hundreds of billions of dollars—walking around money for him to buy votes with—instead of driving up prices for the whole country, exactly what people didn’t want to happen, capped by his stupidest stunt of all, the invasion of Iran, guaranteeing an increase in gas prices at the pump, also known as the “kiss of death” among politicians.
I would like to believe that this election, particularly in Texas, could serve as a full coming of age for Hispanic voters, who could begin to realize their true importance in the American electorate. This could—in at least one optimist’s unhinged fantasy—reshape Texas politics in particular, one no longer dominated by rich white men, but one shaped by the awareness of the great, well, diversity of the Texas electorate, a multiracial and moderate electorate, one shaped by the values and aspirations of the millions who comprise it, rather than the theories of the upper middle class graduates of elite universities and colleges who make a career out of denying—and thus hoping to conserve—their privilege.
Because the very good news for the Democrats nationally is that their very big win has given them lots of moderates to go along with the fashionable new crop of “socialists” who are now all the rage, or at least all in a rage—about “late capitalism” and other horrors. We have a very long way to go before the Democrats have anything resembling a “coherent” political program, but we’re on fifty yard line instead of the ten. Feels good!
1. Back in 1875, Romualdo Pacheco was elected governor of California. It’s been a while.
2. I’d like Kathy a lot more if she believed in due process of law, but you can’t have everything.
3. In 2023, the Court upheld provisions in the amended act requiring the formation of black majority districts whenever a “pattern” (my word) of discrimination could be shown, regardless of proof of an intent to discriminate, thanks to the votes of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who joined with the three liberal justices to make a majority. But three years later, John and Brett changed sides, in Louisiana v. Callais, which effectively overturned the 2023 decision. What a difference an election makes, right? Also very interesting: Justice Samuel Alito wrote a dissenting opinion in the 2023 case, but the majority opinion in 2026. Justice Kagan, in her dissent, is naturally and rightfully, unamused by this blatant (one might even call it Robertian) hypocrisy. (Kagan’s dissent starts on page 45 of the PDF of the Court’s decision available here.)
4. I confess I was not crazy about the whole guaranteed seats idea—safe seats encourage lazy thinking—but the Trumpian right was so ruthlessly dedicated to stacking the deck that I was willing to settle for “anything” rather than risking the chance of a complete wipeout.
