ump-backed candidates in four other swing states (a number that may rise to five if Raphael Warnock wins the Georgian runoff in early December), Democrats have managed to keep control of the Senate, despite both inflation and Biden’s low approval rate being stacked against them, and the fact that the incumbent party historically fares terribly in these elections. The anticipated “red wave” didn’t show up during this year’s midterms — voters were wary of Republican candidates’ lies about election fraud and the broadly unpopular reversal of Roe v. Wade, among other reasons. More interesting, however, are what the results of the election actually mean, especially in the context of our high school.Although plenty of students at PHS were keeping an eye on the midterm results, or at least vaguely rooting for one party to win, this support is often purely based on disliking the political party they want to see lose, or “liking” the political party they want to see win, instead of focusing on the actual legislative and political implications of the midterm results. Still, the fact that the Democrats won the Senate this year will affect every PHS student, no matter whether they consider themselves Republican, Democratic, or neither.Let’s start with the political implications of the midterms. For PHS students who consider themselves Republican, the clear shift in the electorate away from Trump-backed candidates (the majority of the candidates for the US Senate in swing states that he endorsed lost) and the massive, 20-point victory of Ron Desantis (who is considered a major rival to Trump for the 2024 candidacy) in the Florida gubernatorial race means that their party is on rocky footing. The night after the Senate went to the Democrats, Republican senators from many states that voted solidly for Trump in 2020 sought to distance their party from the former president. The reason Trump-backed candidates lost in battleground states is the same reason that it’s good for everyone at PHS that they did — they parroted the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and planned to restrict free elections in their own states. The Republican party has been spreading autocratic rhetoric since Trump lost in 2020, culminating in the insurrection on January 6 last year and the rise of political violence across the board, such as the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the Democratic Speaker of the House. In order for our democracy to function, which any student at PHS would agree is important (look to Russia for an example of what happens when it doesn’t), Republicans needed a clear refutation of their election lies at the ballot box, and the midterms gave them just that.From a policy standpoint too, the midterms are consequential at PHS. Even though the Republicans narrowly took the House, a Democratic majority in the Senate means three things for President Biden. First, he can block Republican legislation that could’ve been passed if the GOP took both the House and the Senate. That’s important because Republicans would’ve tried to both overturn some of Biden’s previous legislation.This includes his groundbreaking climate legislation, which will help to ensure that everyone at PHS inherits a world that’s not too hot to support life, as well as bills like the Inflation Reduction Act, which caps the price for medicines that many students need, and the biggest gun violence reduction act in 30 years, a topic that’s unfortunately on many high schooler’s minds. Additionally, Republicans could have passed their own legislation with control of both chambers of Congress, with potentially disastrous results for students at PHS. Republican states have passed policies that restricted rights for LGBT students, restricted voting access for eligible seniors, and, most importantly, censured teachers from talking about important issues like gender identity or race.But perhaps the most important impact of Democrats winning the Senate is one that is lesser known. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned that if Republicans took the Senate, they would block Democratic judges from confirmation. Already, during Biden’s first two years in office, Democrats confirmed 84 federal judges, and since they still control the Senate after the midterms, that momentum is unlikely to stop. Biden’s judges are much more racially and ideologically diverse than Trump’s, which is significant because they serve for life, ruling on our nation’s laws for generations. That means that students at PHS will benefit from rulings favoring climate bills, social security nets, and the bodily autonomy of women. Politics can be dismal and outright scary. However, the state of affairs in our country is something for PHS students to research and reckon with, not shy away from. Hopefully, this article has made the complicated world of politics a bit more digestible. But we should all put in the effort to learn about the implications that elections have on our everyday lives, because when people care about the politics that surround them, they are able to make decisions both at the ballot box and in their everyday lives that benefit those around them.