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Enjoying the moment

Keith reflects on 'Blue Tsunami'

HANCOCK -- Tuesday's Midterm Election saw Houghton County shift more than ten points towards Democrats across most of the big races. Although Republicans Gregory Markkanen and Dave Prestin won their State House and State Senate races respectively, voter turnout in the county was 58.76%, and the U.S. House race came within 900 votes.

Houghton County Democratic Party Chair William Keith said the "blue tsunami" nationally was a rebuke of President Trump and his policies. "I certainly think that overall, the Midterms were a referendum on Donald Trump's policies," he said. "People absolutely hated that we had gone to war in Iran, because of that the price of gas was just through the roof. The price of groceries and everything else was through the roof."

Keith noted Callie Barr, who lost to Incumbent Jack Bergman in the U.S. House race, came within 742 votes. "I think that's definitely something that we can attribute to the hard work she put in. An incredible amount of leg work going up and down the huge first district," he said. "She came through Houghton so many times and we were always thrilled to have her here."

For Bergman, his margin of victory in the 2024 Presidential Election was 17.04%, according to NBC news. This year, the margin was 4.52%.

Keith said flipping the county and even the congressional district may be happening soon. He pointed out past representation from the area. "As we always remind people, the district was blue for a long time," he said. "We had Bart Stupak. We were formally represented in the state legislature by Scott Dianda."

For such a heavily Trump county throughout the last few elections, Houghton County has two Democrats on the County Board, Glenn Anderson and Gretchen Janssen. Keith said Democrats live in Houghton County too.

"We are here. Democrats do live here," he said. "We're a part of these communities... and we know there is no such thing as a permanent hold in any sort of political position. That is the point of America. You've always got to earn your position."

According to Keith, the Houghton County Democratic Party is looking ahead to the next two years. Keith said he hopes party membership is engaged throughout the next congresses term. "At the moment, we're looking at our coffers and we are trying to make sure our membership is excited and engaged for the next few years," he said. "We're going to build up our resources and we're going to hit the ground running next time campaign season rolls around."