This story originally appeared on Them.
Many people didn’t trust the polls showing a strong Democratic lead in the 2026 U.S. midterm elections. They had been burned before. They wanted to believe, but they didn’t want to be hurt again. And then the results started pouring in, showing huge blue gains and stunning red losses. Democratic control of the House of Representatives was secured relatively early on, with a majority in the Senate projected by midnight. Texas elected its first statewide Democratic officials in over 30 years, in the form of Senate candidate James Talarico and governor-to-be Gina Hinojosa. And all along, LGBTQ+ candidates were winning big, and setting huge precedents in the process. For the first time, an openly gay man — New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas — is headed to the Senate.
I have a confession to make: Well in advance of the midterm elections on Tuesday, we made our own in-house meme at Them that read “Transgender for everybody” — a nod to President Donald Trump’s curious malapropism of a catchphrase that he had been using to stoke anti-trans sentiment on the campaign trail. We didn’t know if the mood would be right to post it. And then, relatively early in the night, it became clear that the estimated $183 million in anti-trans ads Republicans bought this cycle were a complete waste of money, as they did nothing to stop an electoral blue tsunami. We’re aware of — and watching — the ballot initiatives in a handful of states targeting trans youth healthcare and sports participation. The damage those measures will cause, if passed, are real. On the big-picture level, though, this cycle showed that the strategy of using trans people as a wedge issue in high-profile contests may have finally run out of stream. I know if I had spent $183 million and gotten nothing in return, I might not spend $183 million again! And so we got to post our silly little meme.
But we weren’t the only ones getting in on the fun. Whether you were posting about the COVID-conscious lesbian bar having closed too soon or instructing everyone to put their pronouns back in their email signatures, we were reading your posts — and curating our favorites. Below, find the funniest posts about Tuesday night’s blue tsunami and about woke finally being back.
[bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/zackbornstein.bsky.social/post/3mzhhhkp4uc2b expand=1 site_id=25879314 handle="zackbornstein.bsky.social" post_id="3mzhhhkp4uc2b" html=""]Woah I didn\u2019t even know they could point that way
— Zack Bornstein (@zackbornstein.bsky.social) 2026-11-04T03:55:53.818Z
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