Major gains in the house. Gains in the governors. Gains in state legislators. More people voted democrat. To suggest there was no "wave" is pure spin. You could say it was not a large wave(which is kinda subjective), but it certainly was a wave.
So let's see here...
Dems take House, likely for 38 seats, the most since the 1970s, take a bunch of governorships, they pass a bunch of left-leaning ballot initiatives, they lose fewer Senate seats than they had any right to based on the map, they win something like 90% of the tossups and somehow, magically, the developing narrative that "Golly, it wasn't a blue wave after all!". Hell, they even did it in the states that won 2016 for Trump: OH, WI, MI and PA.
"Some of the things that the most fervent Democratic partisans really really really wished for didn't happen" ≠ There was no wave for dems. It's all about perspective.
One of the least-appreciated aspects of Beto O'Rourke's overperformance/Cruz's underperformance in TX-SEN last night: the entire GOP bench of judges was wiped off the map wholesale in Dallas and Houston. The legal topography of the state just changed overnight.
Medicaid won election night, mostly in red states —3 states (ID, NE, UT) passed ballots to expand Medicaid —2 states (ME, KS) elected governors likely to expand, too Works out to about 500k people gaining coverage.
The dems also did very well at the state level:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...EM32z5a6rTa4bc
Remember, when republicans swept to victory in 1994 and 2010, the popular vote margin was 4-5%. With this election cycle for dems it was 9% despite the gerrymandering and the booming economy. THAT says a lot.
Remember as well that in 2010, the dems lost the house and kept the senate and Obama called it a 'shallacking'. This isn't any different.
This was pretty much a rebuke of Trump, his outright racism and hatred and a desire for accountability and investigations into his corruption.
But, as you've noticed, you'll find the usual deniers comfy in their little echo chambers of denial.
Perhaps they' prefer it to be called a 'blue caravan'?