What a Game 3 of the World Series! 18 innings culminated with a walk-off home run by Freddie Freeman. As the title states, I couldn’t stay up for all of it, and Andrew says he took a nap midgame and still got to watch 16 innings of baseball. Felt very Mariners-esque. Incredibly, the length of the game perhaps wasn’t the biggest news. Shohei Ohtani hit TWO home runs, TWO doubles and was intentionally walked (after the four hits) FOUR times, with another “regular” walk to boot. Reaching base NINE times in the game! Crazy. I guess Toronto was right, if the Dodgers were going to beat them, it would have to be someone else, and it was.
Tonight Ohtani is pitching, so we’ll see what happens with Game 4. Testing Ohtani’s herculean lore!
For a bit of a change of pace, I got an interesting email over the weekend that got me thinking (and writing). With the election season in full swing for this year (ballots due November 4th), things are also heating up for the 2026 mid-term elections. I’ll give you historical data and then how things are setting up now.
The Republicans have the smallest advantage since 1931, with only a five seat advantage.
Typically whoever is in the White House loses seats in the mid-term.
This year there is a lot of redistricting going on. If you haven’t heard much, this will come as a shock. Three states have already redistricted – Texas, North Carolina and Missouri. Because of some of the redistricting, mostly in “red” states, California is now in the process of potentially redistricting.
This could cause the southern states to potentially get rid of up to a dozen “blue” districts in favor of “red” ones. Here’s what that would look like.
I would think that redistricting should be done by a nonpartisan commission. Not sure exactly what that means, but at least it would be a step in the right direction. Instead, here is what it looks like right now.
Only a few states have independent commissions to do this work. Most are based on the legislatures.
If we are ever looking for a “fairer” election, having partisan legislators in charge is probably not the answer. In fact, confidence in our elections now also seem to be “partisan”.
Depending on which side wins will dictate whether people believe in the outcome. Not good.
So, before I get some emails on the subject, know that I am not saying one side or the other is correct. It all kind of wreaks. To the extent possible, it would be nice to have a balanced commission (equal Democrats and Republicans). Come to a balanced decision, one where neither side feels like they won (or “have to win”). Wait, that sounds like compromise.
Maybe that’s a bridge too far. Something’s got to be done to start bringing people back together instead of pulling people apart.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for letting me deviate from my usual market commentary. After all, getting it right with elections undergirds just about all the other systems we rely upon, so let’s work to get it right! Please let us know if you have any questions or comments about this or any other topic. We will be happy to have a conversation.