What we learned from this year's elections

Political reporters can finally stop refreshing results from Clark County, Nevada and Washington.

Several races are still too close to call. But the big national picture of the midterms is starting to come into focus.

Republicans will likely take a very slim majority in the House. Meanwhile, Democrats hold on to a one-seat edge in the Senate ahead of yet another special election runoff in Georgia.

Locally, we had some surprising results that deflated the GOP's hopes for a midterm bonanza.

Seattle Times political reporter Jim Brunner said one of the biggest surprises in the country was Democrat Marie Gluesencamp Perez's narrow victory over Trump-backed Joe Kent in Southwest Washington's 3rd Congressional District.

Brunner said Kent made a mistake by not moderating his views after he defeated incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler in the primary. Herrera Beutler was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Brunner said that Kent wrongly assumed that his primary victory proved that the 3rd District was "MAGA country."

"That was a basic misread of the 3rd District and basically led to his loss," he said.

But Brunner cautioned against the notion that the midterms mean the MAGA movement is dead in Washington state.

"Kent still got a lot of votes," he said.