By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
NOV. 7, 2025 | Maybe there is hope, the recent election tells us. At last we have an indication that the average American will reject the Donald Trump scatterbrain and anti-democratic policies we have endured for the last 10 months.
Here’s why, as one pundit put it about the elections Tuesday being won all by Democrats: ““Every race. It’s basically been every race. Governors. Mayors. Long-held [Republican] dog-catchers. School boards. Water boards. Flipped a dungeon master in a rural Iowa D&D club. State senators. State reps. A janitor in Duluth. State justices. Three [Republican] Uber drivers. Just everything.”
Democrats won by convincing margins across the country. Perhaps this will help convince the national Republican leadership, especially House Leader Mike Johnson that they better get ready to start serious discussions with Democrats about the government shutdown. Time is no longer on the GOP side.
Democrats and middle-of-the-road independent voters are showing strengths.
Even in rock-ribbed Republican Georgia, two Public Service Commission Democratic challengers slam-banged two sitting Republican members to upset their apple cart by a 62-37 margin. That’s amazing for these two Democrats to do so well in a statewide race. These are the first two Democrats, Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard, to win a statewide race in 20 years. Surely, they were surprised. But even more surprising must have been the two Republicans, Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson, who were well financed and even incumbents, but tasted defeat.
In Gwinnett, Johnson and Hubbard won the county by a 72-27 margin.
Recognize that on Tuesday, only 17.5 percent cast ballots of the 8,916,651 people registered to vote in Georgia. That may be too small a turnout to anticipate long-term changes. But it’s still almost flabbergasting that two virtually unknown Democrats won seats on the body that establishes utility rates.
Don’t you know that Georgia Power Company and utility officials must be shaking their heads even three days after the election. “What happened?” they must still be wondering
Back to the national politics: President Trump, who lives in his own world with only minions of “Yes” staffers around him, posted on social media about the national vote, yelling with his usual caps: “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.
Interestingly, Donald Trump at least recognized that Republicans lost this time around. But even though Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and though he may not realize it, there is little doubt that it was Trump, the albatross, that sent the Republican vote spiraling downward in these elections.
The question: how will Republicans in Congress react to these lop-sided Democratic victories in state-after-state? Will these GOP officials finally recognize that they should become statesmen and start looking out for their country, and not themselves nor Donald Trump? Perhaps that’s too much to expect from these inept leaders. The response should be a lesson for them….and a hope for all America.
In Gwinnett’s E-SPLOST vote, this one cent continuation to fund school infrastructure, won firm approval by the people. “Yes” voters cast 84,119 ballots(69.4%), while those opposing funding big projects this way cast 33,207 ballots.
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