Republicans Win Big in Wave Election, Dems Lose Senate Control and Governors' Races, What's Next for Rand Paul? A.M. Links

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  Mitch McConnell / Facebook

  Republicans performed about as well as possible in the 2014 midterm election yesterday. The GOP took control of the Senate and increased its margin in the House. It is the first time Republicans have been in charge of both chambers since 2006. Which means…

• Gridlock! Sweet, beautiful gridlock!
• Democrats had hoped to stave off total defeat in the myriad governors' races, but here they fared much worse than expected. Republican reformers Scott Walker (Wisconsin) and Rick Snyder (Michigan) defeated strong challengers backed by big labor. Even blue states like Illinois, Maryland, and Massachusetts went to the Republicans.
• Libertarian and independent candidates had a "meh" election, however.
• A small setback for Rand Paul: the Kentucky legislature remained under Democratic control. That's a problem, because Paul needs state legislators to change the law to allow him to pursue both the presidency and re-election to his U.S. Senate seat in 2016.
• Speaking of the presidency, from now on all eyes will be on presumed candidates like Paul, Walker, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Rick Perry.
• Speaking of Paul, his father tweeted some controversial statements suggesting that the Republican takeover is actually a bad thing—it will empower neoconservativism, Ron Paul claimed. Vox seized upon the tweets as evidence of how the father is a liability to the son.
• In non-election news, Wayne Brady has been having a rough time.

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