The Republican Party retained a congressional seat in a runoff election in Georgia last week. You may have read about it.
Individual donors and groups spent an obscene $50 million on the race, most of that by Democratic donors and groups. It was the most expensive United States House race in history.
National media spun the race as a referendum on President Donald Trump. Banking on his legislative failures, his court losses, his tweet rants and his poll numbers, the idea was voters in a solid conservative district would hand him a huge loss - a message. The Democrats' victory in a seat once held by Newt Gingrich and until this year by current Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price would be icing on the cake. And a loss here would be a bellwether of the 2018 midterms. Democrats, needing only 24 seats to take back Congress, would be a cinch to overturn the House.
The picked and polished Democrat candidate, Jon Ossoff, couldn't lose, we were told. Hollywood came to support him and poured money into the race. Democrats with national prominence flew in to lend a hand. His opponent, frankly, was a perennial candidate, a lackluster loser in previous races.
Democrats not only lost the race, but they lost by nearly four points. It realistically could be termed an upset. Ossoff actually drew virtually the same percentage of the vote in the runoff than he did in the special election.
It was the fourth special House election this year in which Democrats predicted victory and predicted the beginning of the end for Republicans in 2018. After each loss, Democrats said the next election would turn the tide and forecast the future. After three losses, they went all in on Georgia's 6th District. The money. The celebrities. The media.
For naught.
It would be a mistake, however, for Republicans to believe the win - even in all of the four races - gives them clear sailing into the 2018 elections. Voters expect the party to which they gave the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014 to reward them with what they said they were interested in.
Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. Stopping illegal immigration. Strengthening the military. Reforming taxes and the Internal Revenue Service. Rolling back regulations. Seeing the U.S. respected across the world again.
Voters expect to be, to use Trump's words, winning. Bigly.
But what they know and what Democrats and the national media believe they know are two different things. Despite last November's results, Democrats and the national media are still operating as if voters had handed Hillary Clinton the presidency and Democrats the Senate and House.
They still can't believe people don't want the Affordable Care Act. They can't believe people wouldn't overlook the lies told about it. They can't imagine more government regulations and more government eyes on every aspect of life aren't what people want. They can't believe everyday Americans would have any problem with a porous Southern border and no checks on refugees from the terrorist-laden Middle East.
Trump voters, instead, look past the president's low numbers in some polls. They feel frustrated with the legislative process in reforming the tax system and creating a new health care bill. But they see a guy who's trying. They may not like the tweets, may not embrace everything about the man and may understand he's not like previous presidents, but they feel a certain loyalty to the guy.
This is what Democrats and the national media - even after losing Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to Trump - still don't get. Voters saw something in the man that makes them want to stick with him, to give him a chance, to give him benefit of the doubt.
They hear the media castigate him for not getting his agenda passed in five months. Five months. Their patience is a little longer than that. They hear the Russian charges and see no evidence produced. None. Their understanding of what to date seems to be a witch hunt is palpable.
Let's face it. Nearly 63 million Americans voted for a guy to be their president who is unlike anyone ever to hold the office. They wanted that. They're happy with that. They're going to cut the guy some slack. They're not ready to string him up.
So what did the result in Georgia's 6th District say? With the understanding that all politics is local, it said we didn't want a guy who didn't live in our district to represent us. It said we can make our choices without all that money involved. It said we'll decide when a lesson needs to be taught the guy in the White House.
Nationally, it said what most congressional elections say - that our local representative is somewhat more popular than the president, regardless of the party. But it also said voters are not ready to give up on the president yet.
Democrats will now turn their attention to this November's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, where Democrats will be favored in states that have voted Democratic in recent presidential elections. Those elections, they'll say, will be the bellwether on 2018.
No matter the results, they'll be wrong about the prescience. Because we as voters get to decide. And that's the way it ought to be.