Some happy takeaways from Tuesday’s election -- but some cause for caution as well

Locally, the biggest news from our election is this: There’s going to be a new sheriff in town.

Derek Sanders is a young, biracial, six-year deputy who knows both the department’s shortcomings and his own. He’s planning a national search to find a second in command who will compensate for his lack of administrative background.

He’s smart, analytical, and has experience on both sides of the badge. As a child, he encountered police in his home during episodes of domestic violence.

We welcome Sanders to his new job, and salute his willingness to take on a tough campaign and an even tougher position.

There is other good news from our local elections, too:

• Next year, we will elect two additional county commissioners, and probably two more Port Commissioners, though the Port expansion is, so far, just barely passing. If it holds, we hope reform-minded candidates will step up to run and clean house at the Port.

• Two smart women — Jessica Bateman and Beth Doglio — will represent us in the state legislature, and a smart woman of color — Marilyn Strickland — will represent us in Congress.

• Our election system has worked smoothly, thanks to the hard work of Election Hero staffers who were served cake by the League of Women Voters, and thanked by the League and their boss, Auditor Mary Hall, last Monday.

But while we live in our own happy enclave of political competence and civility, the rest of our benighted nation still struggles with post-Trump trauma, election lies, and other far-right foolishness.

The mainstream was relieved and happy about the election losses of over half of the election-denying MAGA candidates. The big red wave never made it to shore. But “this is not as bad as we expected” should not be confused with success, even on an election night when Donald Trump was the biggest loser.

The Republicans are likely to have a narrow House majority, but many in their caucus will want to launch investigations of Hunter Biden, Anthony Fauci, and everyone else on their enemies list. While President Biden may sincerely want to find bipartisan compromises, they will want to pillage and burn, and to use a vote on the debt limit to either extort Democratic policy concessions or shut down government and potentially cause a global economic crisis.

The Senate majority looks like it might not be decided until the conclusion of a Dec. 6 Georgia runoff election between Rafael Warnock and Herschel Walker.

Regardless of what happens in the Senate, a Republican House majority well-stocked with hard right zealots will thwart bipartisan legislation. Even if Democrats hold onto a Senate majority, its major importance will be confirmation of judicial appointments. The chances of immigration reform, protection of women’s sovereignty over their bodies, or any other useful legislation are slim to none.

The MAGA fever may have come down a degree or two, and that is cause for hope. But the patient — our democracy — is not ready to be discharged from the hospital. It is still too soon to rule out fever spikes of election-denial lies and deranged violence.

And while we attribute MAGA extremism to Trump’s lingering influence, it’s instructive to listen to his rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, rant about making his state the epicenter of “anti-wokeness.” The poison of willful ignorance and intolerance wasn’t invented by Trump; he just popularized it as a political platform. DeSantis serves up the same poison with frightening effectiveness.

It will take many years for that poisonous fever to dissipate. To do so, we need a minimum of two political parties focused on inclusion and collaboration. We need to honor and encourage the voices of reform within the Republican party, and restrain the far left’s obnoxious claims to moral superiority.

Here in Thurston County, we also should be thankful for what we’ve got: a crop of genuinely dedicated elected officials, a gold-standard election system, and an engaged electorate. These are precious assets we need to protect, celebrate and promote.