There are red states, blue states, and places like Michigan and Wisconsin which prevailed over the politics of grievance

Can Republicans recover from Trump?

There are red, blue, and purple or swing states in today’s American politics.

The big two on the red side are Texas and Florida, while the big three on the Blue side are California, Illinois, and New York. To be sure, there are a lot of smaller true blue and blood red states.

But what about the other so-called swing or purple states? Where are they headed politically, especially as it relates to electoral politics?

Starting last November in Michigan and yesterday in Wisconsin, things are not trending favorably for Republicans.

Last November, Michigan voters overwhelmingly reelected Gov. Gretchen “that woman” Whitmer to a second term. Additionally, all state-wide (including U.S. Senators) state constitutional officers are Democrats, and both houses are Democratic majorities.

It is worth noting Michigan has for several years been dominated by Republicans who controlled both houses and were able to Gerrymander maps in their favor. Michigan supported Trump in 2016 but had buyer’s remorse and supported Joe Biden in 2020.

Likewise, yesterday’s non-partisan Wisconsin state supreme court election saw the Democratic-backed candidate beat the Republican candidate by 10 percent. Even though Republicans have dominated Wisconsin in pre-Trump years, the former president’s shadow is negatively cast on the state’s electorate.

Voters repudiated Wisconsin Republicans’ anti-choice stance and voter suppression efforts with yesterday’s election. And as conservative political commentator Charlies Sykes noted, “the Trump effect” in Wisconsin drove yesterday’s supreme court election (see video below).

There are other examples where purple states have turned blue, at least during the Trump era. In a Trump-free era, a mainstream Republican candidate running against a medically challenged mainstream Democratic opponent, as we saw in Pennsylvania, should have easily won.

With no disrespect to Sen. John Fetterman, in a more typical political climate, a candidate who could not campaign because of a stroke would probably not be elected. Yet Fetterman prevailed over his Trump-endorsed celebrity Republican opponent, Dr. Oz.

And then there are the red states Arizona and Georgia which not only selected Biden over Trump in 2020 after doing the opposite in 2016, and neither state has a Republican U.S. Senator. And don’t forget the vote in deep-red Kansas last summer affirming abortion rights.

So while there will be many solid red and blue states for years to come, as we have seen in places like Michigan and Wisconsin, not to mention Arizona, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, common sense and addressing voters’ concerns will prevail over the politics of grievances.