Thoughts on election night in Auburn and beyond | Whale’s Tales
Published 1:30 am Friday, November 14, 2025
The general election is over.
Auburn voters handed Mayor Nancy Backus her fourth consecutive term, returned Councilwoman Kate Baldwin for a second term, gave her Lisa Stirgus first full term on the council, and voted in council newcomer Brian Lott.
Apart from that, the Auburn School District’s construction bond failed to amass enough votes to get it over the 60% supermajority the state requires for passage of bonds. The levy, however, which requires only a simple majority, passed.
Of course, Auburn isn’t the center of the country. Looking beyond city limits and state borders, it seems safe to say Tuesday, Nov. 4, was an interesting night throughout he country.
On that day, Democrats flipped the Virginia governor’s seat, bulked up their majority in that state’s House of Delegates, maintained control of New Jersey’s governorship, and held the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In California, voters approved a ballot measure that lets the state legislature redraw congressional districts in a way more favorable to Democrats, after Texas enacted a similar initiative for Republicans. And in New York, voters elected a democratic socialist as the first Muslim mayor of the city.
That is, it was good night for Democrats. For Republicans, eh, not so much.
President Trump later explained his party’s trouncing in an all-caps rant on Truth Social. He said it happened only because he, Donald Trump, wasn’t on the ballot and because of the government shutdown, which he blamed entirely on Democrats. He also hinted at cheating, and enumerated changes to voting laws, including eliminating mail-in ballots, to ensure no such thing happens again.
Seems the president missed the irony here. Because what early exit polls actually showed was that many people voted against his party to let the GOP know they didn’t like what he’s been doing. In those same surveys, CNN reported, the majority of voters in key contests also overwhelmingly disapproved of Trump’s handling of the presidency.
So, we may draw the conclusion that had Trump’s name been on the ballot, the result might have been much worse for his party.
It reminds me of something former President Lyndon Johnson once said to the New York Times’ Russell Baker. Griping about an unnamed politician, Baker recalled, LBJ called the man “a rotating SOB.” Then, putting his big face next to Baker’s in his patented way, LBJ said to him, “Bet you’re dying to know what a rotating SOB is, aren’t you Russell? It means the guy’s an SOB no matter the angle you look at him!”
In a similar way, I’ve turned Trump’s comment around and around, but to date have failed to find, um, any acceptable angle, on it.
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Robert Whale can be reached at robert.whale@soundpublishing.com.
