incumbent

"This decision ignores the market realities, and will only serve to protect incumbent marketplaces from competition."

By beating incumbent Kevin de León for a City Council seat that stretches from downtown through Boyle Heights and up to Eagle Rock, the 34-year-old sustained the political earthquake she first unleashed in March, when she finished ahead of him and two Latino Assembly members in the primary.

Silver added that most incumbent parties are “unpopular” and tend to lose elections anyways.

Those ballots could impact the 41st Congressional District, where Republican incumbent Rep. Ken Calvert holds a lead over Democratic challenger Will Rollins.

One plausible way to read this election is as a protest vote against the Democrats as the incumbent party, reflecting a broad feeling that the country is headed in the wrong direction and something must change on a fundamental level.