The blue wave crashed over every Republican breakwall just about everywhere. Nationally, the Democrats are on track to win lopsided majorities in both houses of Congress and are picking up governorships by the bushel. I’m old enough to have voted in the 1974 post-Watergate wave election; 2026 is on track to be a better night for Democrats.

Here in Vermont, only Gov. Phil Scott survived. He won by a seven-point margin over Democrat Amanda Janoo, but he will be a severely weakened force heading into his sixth (and presumably final) term. His reputed successor, Lt. Gov. John Rodgers, got literally and figuratively mollywhopped and will not be returning to Montpelier.

The big thing for Vermont is that the combined Democratic/Progressive caucuses will hold supermajorities in the House and Senate. We’re looking at a complete reversal of the 2024 Republican advance — and maybe even more.

Quite a few legislative races have yet to be called, but here’s where things stand as of right now. In the Senate, the Democrats have won 19 seats and have a solid lead in a 20th (Orange). Progressive Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky will caucus with them, so that’s 21 seats. Independent Dave Wolk picked off a seat in formerly deep red Rutland, sending *alleged* daughter-puncher Sen. Terry Williams to the showers. Wolk is a former Democratic senator, so he might be expected to caucus with the Democrats.

As for Senate Republicans… they only have seven wins, plus Minority Leader Scott Beck has a narrow lead over Democrat David Roth,so they might end up with eight.

I haven’t added up all the House seats because one hundred and fifty but the Democrats are clearly winning a supermajority. Republicans have lost more than enough seats to fall below the 50 they would need to sustain gubernatorial vetoes. Many of their surprise 2024 winners were turfed out after a single term, and even a few veterans couldn’t withstand the rising tide. 15-term Rep. Mary Morrissey of Bennington was one of the losers.

It’s looking very much like 2026 will almost completely reverse the Republican gains of 2024 in Vermont, leaving Scott on a desert island conversing with a volleyball. When he was asked during the campaign why he was running for another term, his semi-joking response was “I ask myself that every day.” Well, for the next two years he may be asking himself that question in every waking hour. He hated dealing with Dem supermajorities in the 2023-24 biennium; now he’s stepping back into that same scenario.

The Democrats will be choosing new caucus leadership in both chambers. It’ll be interesting to see what approach they adopt. Will they try to find common ground with the governor, or advance an ambitious agenda as they did in 2023-24? Will they undo the very unpopular education reform plan that’s already underway? Will they perform the ultimate stress test on the capacity of Phil Scott’s veto pen?

I’m planning to write a separate post about Janoo, but let’s put a marker in it for now. She gave Scott all he could handle. Her campaign succeeded beyond anyone’s expectation, and well beyond what Scott’s previous challengers managed to do. She deserves full credit for an unconventional effort that knocked big chunks out of Scott’s seemingly impervious Teflon coating. And she deserves none of the blamecasting that usually follows losing candidates.

Separate post probably coming about Rural Vermont Rising and the general idea that rural voters are reclaiming their former primacy in Vermont’s affairs. Well, that sure came and went in a hurry. When we look back at 2024 and 2026 with clear eyes, I think we’ll see that both were driven primarily by national tides — a pro-Trump turnout two years ago, and a massive anti-Trump wave this year.

Finally, well, John Rodgers. After his 2024 win over then-lieutenant governor David Zuckerman, Rodgers was anointed as the great Republican hope to succeed Scott. Well, that turned out to be a giant wet fart. Molly Gray beat him by more than 25 percentage points. Rodgers barely outpolled the no-hope Republicans who occupied space on the party’s statewide ticket. We wish him and his running buddy Matt Birong the best of luck in their future endeavors.

More later. For now, I just got out of bed and I feel like dancing.