When Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, they probably weren’t thinking about the next election.  But maybe they should have.  Because the long shadow of the former president and the behavior of the rioters, may have helped contribute to a relatively good night for the Democrats.

Historically, the party in power would rather skip the first midterm election.  That’s because the president’s incumbent party tends to be hammered in the House, Senate and even gubernatorial contests.  Remember Barack Obama’s crushing losses in 2010 (costing the party the House of Representatives, and Bill Clinton’s Democratic Party Waterloo in 1994, where the party lost the House and Senate, and many governor’s races)?  Or Trump in the 2018 midterms?

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in Georgia. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is @JohnTures2.