I’ve always been a political nerd. When I was little, my parents took me with them to vote and talked to me about the importance of voting in elections. I remember being in middle school and looking forward to turning eighteen so I could cast my own vote. I voted for the first time in the 2000 presidential election (in Florida no less!) and in every election since. Two years ago, I started a little tradition with Election Night Bingo 2016 – and now it’s time for Election Night Bingo: Midterms 2018 edition!
It has been a long couple of years and the world feels like a very scary place these days, but we can do something about it. We can choose leaders who share our values and will pursue the right policies. We’re lucky enough to live in a place where we get to choose our own leaders and help determine the kind of country we live in – and it’s never been more important to exercise our collective voice. If you voted early, good for you! Otherwise, let’s all go vote on Tuesday and play Election Night Bingo: Midterms 2018 edition together in the evening!
If you’ve already voted or know you’ll definitely vote on Tuesday, work on making sure your closest friends and family will vote! Create a voting squad. Start a group text with at least five people or DM at least five people on Facebook or Instagram – either local or across the country. Check in with each other on Tuesday. Does each friend know where their polling station is? What time is each friend planning to vote? Have they seen a sample ballot? Do they know about the candidates and issues on the ballot? Be sure to check in with each other after you vote so you can send virtual high-fives – whatever it takes to get out the vote!
I’ll be watching the election results closely on Tuesday night, hopefully with a cocktail in one hand and my bingo boards in the other to help with election night anxiety! You can grab the printable bingo boards right here, print them out on letter size cover weight or text weight paper, then trim down to size using scissors or a paper trimmer! There are four different game boards, so you can play with a small group if you’re hosting an election night party with friends – or play twice with your significant other if it’s just the two of you!
While I’m hoping for as many Democratic victories as possible on Tuesday night, this midterm election night bingo is meant to be non-partisan so that anyone can play along. I tried to incorporate buzzwords that you might hear from the pundits on any network, including the names of states with key House or Senate races, election terms, and keywords from some current policy issues.
Voting is both a civic responsibility and an immense privilege, and I sincerely hope all of you will be voting on Tuesday (if you haven’t already). Our government is in need of some serious checks and balances, so if you’re not sure who to vote for, I encourage you to vote blue. If you’re normally Republican, instead of staying home, I encourage you to vote as an act of protest against Trump’s hateful rhetoric and bigotry. The New York Times has a couple of awesome maps of the most competitive House races and toss up Senate races. Here are a few of the Congressional races that I’ll be following most closely on election night (and the candidates I’m rooting for):
Andrew Janz, California 22nd (running against incumbent Devin Nunes, a Trump enabler)
Harley Rouda, California 48th (running against pro-Russia incumbent Dana Rorabacher)
Ammar Campa-Najjar, California 50th (running against incumbent Duncan Hunter – indicted for campaign finance violations, among other violations)
JD Scholten, Iowa 4th (running against incumbent Steve King, one of the most hateful and racist members of Congress)
Amy McGrath, Kentucky 6th
Andy Kim, New Jersey 3rd
Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey 11th
Anthony Brindisi, New York 22nd
Danny O’Connor, Ohio 12th
Joe Cunningham, South Carolina 1st
Lizzie Fletcher, Texas 7th
Gina Ortiz Jones, Texas 23rd
MJ Hegar, Texas 31st
Leslie Cockburn, Virginia 5th
Abigail Spanberger, Virginia 7th
Richard Ojeda, West Virginia 3rd
p.s. For any readers with eagle eyes, yes, I’m aware of the typo in one of the boards and fixed it already!