The election happened; now what?
The midterms did not produce the swamp-cleansing Red Wave that many were predicting. In fact, this midterm brought the fewest changes of any midterm in modern political history. Nearly every incumbent won their race. Most red districts stayed red, blue ones stayed blue, and swing states that tend either right or left swung a little further toward those tendencies.
For the most part, the status quo prevailed in DC. But one significant change did occur: pro-family legislators won enough seats to halt some of the worst ideas coming out of Washington right now. The Democrats will maintain control of the Senate, but Republicans now hold the majority in the House of Representatives. While our hopes do not rest in one political party or another, in starkly partisan DC politics, this is a major improvement for those who support the family and education freedom.
But, right on cue, President Biden wasted no time in reminding us why it’s so important to check the administration’s agenda.
On November 9, the day after election day, President Biden held a press conference, during which he stated children need formal education starting at 3 years old—a reference to the policy known as “universal pre-K.” The White House tried to pass it as part of their Build Back Better bill; that effort failed, but universal pre-K remains a priority for the administration. By avoiding the crushing defeat that many pollsters had predicted, the White House believes they have a mandate to continue on with their agenda.
Despite all that has happened in the education space in the past few years, the administration and their allies are doubling down. They do not support parents. They are not interested in education choice. And before the midterm election, defending these freedoms at the federal level was a difficult uphill battle.
Winning the majority in the House means that battle just got a tiny bit easier. With a split Congress, very little legislation will be passed—and that means very little harmful legislation will be implemented.
While politics in Washington are very partisan, the freedoms we fight for are not. Parental rights and education choice are issues that every voter cares about. Every parent wants the freedom to raise their children as they see fit, and every family wants the freedom to pursue the education option that’s best for them. And with a Congress that’ll be stuck in an impasse for the next two years, we get more time to educate legislators on both sides of the aisle as to why these issues are critical to every American family, and how to best support educational freedom.
In this season of Thanksgiving, that’s just one more thing of many we can be thankful for.