At the Atlantic, Russell Burman details this reasoning in his new article “Maybe Democrats Didn’t Do So Badly After All ”: Now a clearer picture of the election has emerged, complicating the debate over whether Democrats need to reinvent themselves—and whether voters really abandoned them at all.

It was government shutdown season in Washington, and all through the House, many creatures were stirring — most notably Elon Musk.Lawmakers in Congress were expecting a glide path to the holidays. They had a bipartisan deal that would keep the government funded and send them all on their merry way back to their districts.