THE CALIFORNIA RESULT – AT 9:52 .M. ET:  Not quite what Nancy's script anticipated.  From Fox: 

Neither party managed to land any knockout blows in California Tuesday as voters went to the polls there and in seven other states to pick candidates who will face off in the Nov. 6 midterm elections, when control of the U.S. House and Senate will be up for grabs.

The fate of President Trump’s legislative priorities will hang in the balance in November. Right now Republicans control both the House and Senate, but a swing of just 23 seats would give Democrats a House majority. The GOP holds a narrow majority of 51 seats in the Senate, with Democrats controlling 47 seats and independents who caucus with Democrats holding two seats.

California, home to the nation’s largest congressional delegation with 39 Democrats and 14 Republicans, has a so-called “jungle primary.” All candidates initially competed on a single ballot Tuesday. The two who come out on top go on to the general election, regardless of political party.

This makes it possible for two Democrats or two Republicans to face each other in November.
The Democrats had hoped the jungle primary might give them a leg up on their campaign to win back control of the U.S. House of Representatives by capturing at least a few of the 14 seats the GOP currently holds in California – half of which Hillary Clinton carried in the 2016 presidential contest.

Going into Tuesday is looked like there might be a few seats – notably the Anaheim-area seat of retiring Republican Ed Royce – where the Republicans might be shut out of the general election.

That appears not to have happened – not in the Royce seat, not in the San Diego-area seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, and not in Huntington Beach where Republican Dana Rohrabacher, a former speechwriter for President Reagan seeking a 16th term, easily made it into the next round.

The failure to achieve what some were calling a “big, blue shutout” also didn’t extend to the gubernatorial contest. Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom easily advanced to the second round of balloting as did Republican businessman John Cox, who had the endorsement of President Trump.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – whom some hoped might make it into the runoff in place of Cox, setting up an all-Democratic general election contest that could have had a depressive affect on GOP turnout statewide – drew only about half as much support as Cox and finished a distant third.

COMMENT:  There are no guarantees for November, but, nationally, the Democrats are just not doing as well as they'd expected.  Most analysts now see the Senate as almost impossible for them to win, because so many marginal Democratic seats are up for re-election, and facing severe challenges.

As for the House, a gain of 23 seats by the opposition party in the first midterm following a presidential election is not unusual at all.  The fact that the Dems may not make even that tells us a great deal about the state of the once-mighty Democratic Party.  And their presidential bench for 2020 is Minor League.

But take nothing for granted.  Fight like you're 20 points behind.

June 6,  2018