No “red wave" and other midterm takeaways

Democrats outperformed midterm expectations; Brittney Griner was taken to serve a sentence in a Russian penal colony.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Jariel Arvin.

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What to know about the 2022 midterms so far

• Midterm votes are still being counted for many key races and Americans may not not know for weeks which party controls Congress, but here are some takeaways. [Vox / Ben Jacobs]
• Republicans are likely to regain the House but likely won’t have a large majority. Democrats outperformed polls and historical expectations; there was no “red wave” of GOP victories. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
• Democratic candidate John Fetterman beat GOP challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz in the race for Pennsylvania Senate. Georgia’s Senate race will go to a December 6 runoff. Nevada's and Arizona’s Senate races are too close to call.  [Vox / Dylan Scott]
• Incumbent Democratic governors Gretchen Whitmer, Kathy Hochul, Laura Kelly, and Tony Evers kept their seats. The results of some major contests like the race between Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona are still outstanding. [USA Today]
• Democrats flipped state legislatures in Minnesota and Michigan, providing a path forward for climate action and other Democratic priorities in both states. [Vox / Rebecca Leber]
• Tuesday was also a huge night for ballot initiatives. Missouri and Maryland voted to legalize marijuana. However, voters in Arkansas and the Dakotas didn’t. [Vox / Mary Jane Gibson]

📍 If you read just one story

Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explains why the 2022 midterms show US democracy won’t go down without a fight. [Vox / Zack Beauchamp]

Brittney Griner sent to Russian prison

• WNBA star Brittney Griner is on her way to a Russian penal colony. Her attorneys weren’t told where. [BBC / Alex Binley]
• Russian authorities arrested Griner at a Moscow airport in February after finding cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage; the US calls the detention wrongful. [Guardian]
• Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges and admitted to mistakenly packing the cartridges. In August, the two-time Olympic Gold medalist was sentenced to nine years incarceration. [CNBC / Phil Helsel and Andrea Mitchell]
• US officials were not notified about where Griner would begin serving her sentence. It could take weeks for Griner’s lawyers to learn her final location. [Associated Press]

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Tuesday, California voters rejected a ballot measure to tax the wealthy to make electric vehicles more affordable for low-income communities. [Vox / Umair Irfan]

• Some states voted for ballot measures to expand medicaid and establish the right to abortion and collective bargaining. [Vox]
• Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social media company is laying off 11,000 employees. [CNBC / Jonathan Vanian]
• Tuesday, Donald Trump warned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis against running for president in 2024. [New York Times / Maggie Haberman]

“If McCarthy’s hair was not already uniformly silver, it would be turning gray after this Election Day.”

[Ben Jacobs on the House midterm election results / Vox]

No red wave

The midterms weren’t a clear victory for Republicans, and it’s still too early to know who’ll control Congress. Vox’s Andrew Prokop explains.

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9 noteworthy ballot measures from the 2022 elections

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