Democrats won 2017

It's not much consolation, considering how badly 2016 went, and how the outcome of that election has resulted in policy loss (Justice Gorsuch) after policy loss (The Trump Tax Hike), but if we look at the election of 2017 it's difficult not to conclude that Democrats won. Of course, 2017 wasn't that consequential.

There were local elections, a few dozen special elections, and statewide votes in New Jersey and Virginia. But for the votes that really did matter, Democrats did considerably well. Let's look at the most important elections of 2017 and how the Democrats did.

1. Alabama Senate special election - While this race won't change control of the Senate, it could after the 2018 election. And Vice President Pence already had to pass 6 tie-breaking votes in the first year, it's possible he was on pace to do the same In the next. Now those would be losses (assuming a Republican can't be swung).

2. Virginia Governor - This does a lot of things for Democrats. It keeps Virginia from being a Republican "trifecta" with them in control of all three branches (and leaves the possibility that it can be a Democratic one after 2019 or some fortuitous special elections. The GOP only controls the state Senate by 1 seat and could control the House of Delegates by 1 or fewer. Perhaps more importantly, Northam will be governor during the next redistricting and can veto any pro-GOP gerrymandered maps, or approve a Democratically-gerrymandered one. And this win protects Virginia's two Senate seats from a GOP appointment should Kaine or Warner leave office early and allows the governor to use his office to enfranchise and protect as many voters as the law will allow.

3. New Jersey Governor - This wasn't as big a win for Democrats as Virginia, but still big. It creates a Democratic trifecta in NJ and protects NJ's Senate seats (no small thing) and again allows for the Governor to use his power to protect Democratic voters from Republican shenanigans. But, unlike in VA,  the governor of NJ doesn't have a roll in redistricting.

4. Washington State Senate Special Elections - This created an opportunity to flip the state Senate and create a Democratic trifecta, something Democrats managed to do.

5. Virginia State Senate Special Elections - Democrats had an opportunity to flip the state Senate, but came up short. I rank this above the House of Delegates special election (which is still up in the air) because a win a January 2017, when the seats needed were available, would have resulted in control for 3 years instead of 2. If the House of Delegates doesn't flip, this doesn't matter too much.

6. Virginia House of Delegates - This wasn't that important once the Senate didn't flip and Democrats won the governorship. Regardless of who wins, legislation will still need to get through the GOP-controlled Senate and the Democratic Governor, so the final outcome might not matter to actual legislation or policy in Virginia. That could change with a special of course, but for now this is actually low importance. We might be a few months from knowing the winner too.

Not many of the other races carried a lot of weight frankly. The races could flip a seat in a legislature without flipping the legislature. Sure, wins in these elections set up wins in the next and they serve as the bush leagues for future candidates and staffers. The fact that Democrats flipped more special election seats than Republicans did (14 to 3) is good for Democrats and means that more Democrats are being given an opportunity to learn how to govern and campaign, but they won't change any legislation in the short term.

But Democrats won the 4 most important elections, maybe 5 of the 6 that really mattered and picked up more seats in special elections than they lost. Not bad.

The next elections that really matter are the 2018 midterms, and there is MUCH more on the line there.