How the Media’s Midterm Narrative Crumbled

“Red Wave” Crashed • Abortion on the Ballot • Twitter Meltdown [View in your browser]( | [Update your preferences](newsletter=vf) [Vanity Fair Hive logo image]( How the Media’s Midterm Narrative Crumbled Around 7:40 p.m. on election night, just before a flood of poll closings would start to signal where the midterms were going, Chris Smith [dropped]( a post in the Hive’s live blog: “A Democratic Strategist’s Plea to the Media.” The strategist, Cornell Belcher, urged journalists not to jump to conclusions about a “red wave” washing over America. It was prescient advice, for the dominant media narrative going into the midterms, Charlotte Klein [wrote]( Wednesday, “fell apart.” As Belcher [expounded]( to Smith in a Wednesday piece, “There really are two electorates. One older and one younger, fighting to take this country in very different directions.” And despite pundit predictions that inflation and gas prices would overshadow other concerns, including reproductive rights, Abigail Tracy [noted]( this week that “as the results rolled in throughout the night, one thing became crystal clear: Abortion was on the ballot.” From Pennsylvania on Tuesday, before key races were called for John Fetterman and Josh Shapiro, Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson dismissed the “lazy argument” tossed around in the media. “I think that voters can hold many things,” she told Tracy. “They can hold the economy and inflation; they can hold freedom and democracy and be deeply concerned.” —Michael Calderone, editor [Image may contain: Adult, Person, Electronics, Phone, Mobile Phone, Flag, Footwear, Clothing, Shoe, Speaker, and Crowd]( [“There’s No Red Wave in the Data”: The Pollster Who Got the Midterms Right]( By [Chris Smith]( [Tuesday highlighted the growing generational split between Democratic and Republican voters. “There really are two electorates,” Cornell Belcher tells Vanity Fair. “One older and one younger, fighting to take this country in very different directions.”]( [Read more button](   [The Media’s “Red Wave” Narrative Fell Apart on Election Night]( By [Charlotte Klein]( [The dominant story line in the run-up to the midterm elections apparently overshadowed the actual numbers, a disconnect some journalists took note of as the results came in.]( [Read more button](   [“This Is the Beginning of a Very Long Arc”: The Midterms Prove Abortion Can Galvanize Voters]( By [Abigail Tracy]( [Voters overwhelmingly supported women’s reproductive freedom on Tuesday, both electing pro-abortion-rights lawmakers and voting in favor of abortion rights—even in red and purple states—on ballot initiatives. “When voters have a chance to decide on this issue, they choose to protect their rights,” one activist said.]( [Read more button](   [Twitter Lawyer Reportedly Points Employees to Whistleblower Website as Elon Musk Appears Poised to Burn It All to the Ground]( By [Bess Levin]( [The richest man in the world appears to have made zero friends and lots of enemies at his new company.]( [Read more button](   [The Elon Musk Era Has Been a Complete Mess. But I’m Not Ditching Twitter Just Yet]( By [Molly Jong-Fast]( [Even as blue checks are checking out Mastodon, Twitter remains the place for news junkies like me until something better comes along.]( [Read more button](   Get on the list Subscribe to our Hollywood newsletter for your essential industry and awards-season news, every day. [Sign Up Now](   [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn](   This e-mail was sent to you by The Hive. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, vanityfair@newsletter.vf.com, to your address book. View our [Privacy Policy]( [Unsubscribe](newsletter=vf) Sent from Condé Nast, 1 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007 Copyright © 2022 Condé Nast