Klobuchar Is Really Making Us Feel the Gravity of the 2024 Election

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This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.

“In many ways, when you look at this election, we defied gravity.” —Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, speaking to reporters at the Capitol following a closed-door caucus election.

Last time we checked, about four weeks ago Democrats suffered a devastating loss in the presidential race while also losing both houses of Congress. They lost support among key voting blocs that were formerly considered loyal members of their base, costing them the Electoral College as well as the popular vote. But according to Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Democrats “defied gravity” in 2024.

To be fair, the senator seemed to acknowledge the overall loss, and lamented that the party lost critical lawmakers like Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey. But she was reaching to highlight some silver linings: that Democrats won some competitive races in Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin. And, yes, she did so with a strained reference to one of the most popular songs from the musical Wicked, topped off with a toothy smile and a wink-wink. “What was that a reference to?” Klobuchar immediately asked when her remark was met with awkward silence. “Wicked! That’s right! We defied gravity, and that is what we will continue to do.”

Klobuchar was speaking to reporters fresh out of a caucus election where she was promoted to chair of the Steering and Policy Committee, replacing Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow. This new role elevates Klobuchar to the No. 3 spot of Democratic leadership, making her comments about the election all the more alarming.

As Democrats continue their postmortem of the 2024 election, it’s probably wise to take their losses seriously and take an honest look at what went wrong for the party, instead of continuously patting themselves on the back. In the weeks following the presidential election, Democratic leaders have been delivering oddly celebratory messages. In an interview with the New York Times, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted, “House members did very well.”

But it was pretty funny to see Sen. Dick Durbin standing completely stone-faced next to Klobuchar while her joke landed like a lead balloon (gravity, folks!). Perhaps “Something Bad” would have been the more apt Wicked reference.