First: The #1 priority this year was to remove Donald Trump from power. Everything else--EVERYTHING else--had to be secondary. It appears that we accomplished that goal.
As of this writing, Joe Biden is ahead of Donald Trump by nearly 4 million votes and, more importantly, is ahead in states representing 306 Electoral Votes...well over the 270 needed to win the White House. This includes Michigan, where Biden's lead is nearly 150,000 votes. For comparison, Trump won by around 10,000 votes in 2016. In fact, Biden has already far surpassed the previous record for the most votes won by any Presidential candidate in history...Barack Obama in 2008.
There are four states where the winner hasn't been confirmed by major outlets yet: Arizona, Nevada and Georgia (where Biden is ahead) and North Carolina (where he's behind), but even setting those aside, Biden still has at least 273 Electoral Votes thanks to Pennsylvania.
Trump and the GOP are, of course, attempting to throw every absurd legal challenge they possibly can at the process, but so far they've failed across the board.
There are still steps to be taken--Georgia and possibly Arizona will likely go to recounts; every state still has to officially canvass & certify their results; and of course the Electoral College members have to formally meet, the newly-sworn in Congress has to formally certify the EC vote, and he has to be officially sworn in as President at noon on January 20th, 2021.
Having said that...WE DEFEATED DONALD TRUMP BY A SOLID MARGIN!
At the federal level, while we sadly didn't make any gains, Michigan didn't lose anything either: re-elected U.S. Senator Gary Peters, as well as vulnerable U.S. Representatives Elissa Slotkin and our own Haley Stevens (as well as Andy Levin, of course).
Unfortunately, nationally, Democrats lost several House seats and have only netted one additional Senate seat...so far (more on this later).
At the state level, we re-elected Bridget Mary McCormack and elected Elizabeth Welch to the State Supreme Court, flipping control from GOP to Democratic control! This is a bigger deal than many may think at the moment. We also elected Ellen Cogen Lipton and Jason Strayhorn to the State Board of Education, Rema Vassar to the MSU Board of Trustees, Shirley Stancato to the WSU Board of Governors and re-elected Mark Bernstein to the U of M Board of Regents.
Both ballot proposals (which BB Dems endorsed) passed.
On the downside, Republicans won the other Board positions at all three universities.
In the State House, congratulations to both Mari Manoogian and Kyra Harris Bolden won a second term, and Democrats flipped two seats elsewhere...
...but also lost two seats elsewhere in the state, resulting in a wash.
Democrats won five of the six county-wide offices, including Dave Coulter for Executive, Lisa Brown for Clerk, Jim Nash for Water Resources Commissioner, Robert Wittenberg for Treasurer and Karen McDonald for Prosecutor. BB Dems-endorsed candidate Lori Savin won her race for Oakland County Circuit Court as well, and Marcia Gershenson won re-election to the Oakland County Commission again.
A huge thank you to Vince Gregory and Kelly Dillaha for their valiant runs for County Sheriff and County Commissioner.
Finally, locally, something extraordinary has happened in Bloomfield Township: Democrats went from having never won a single Township position in history...to flipping four of the seven elected positions! Dani Walsh will be the new Bloomfield Township Supervisor and Martin Brook will become the new Township Clerk, while Stephanie Fakih and Valerie Sayles Murray won two of the four Trustee positions. Mazel Tov to all! In Southfield Township, James O'Reilly won for Supervisor and Bonnie Cook for Trustee.
Two others running for Bloomfield Township Trustee positions as Democrats came up short: Linda Ulrey and Mitsuaki Murashige.
For the nonpartisan local school board positions, BB Dems-endorsed candidates Lori Ajlouny won re-election in Birmingham and Siva Kumar won in Bloomfield Hills.
Thank you to our other endorsed candidates, Renita James and Nash Salami for putting your hats in the ring.
Overall, while this election was something of a mixed bag and disappointing on many fronts, at the end of the day Donald Trump has been defeated, Kamala Harris will be the first woman as Vice-President of the United States (as well as her being the first woman of color and the first South Asian person as VP) and Democrats still control the U.S. House, if by a very narrow margin.
That leaves control of the U.S. Senate...and for that, all eyes now turn to GEORGIA, where BOTH Senate races have been thrown into January runoffs! We still have a chance at taking control of the Senate if we flip both of these seats, so I strongly recommend donating to Jon Ossoff, Rev. Raphael Warnock, the GA Democratic Party and Stacey Abrams' Fair Fight organization TODAY!