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If there’s a unifying theme to the elections, I think that it is that democracy is fine.

I won’t say it was “saved” because that implies it was in danger of disappearing, but I think at least we are seeing losing candidates accepting defeat. The one exception is the temporary snafu with some of the ballot tabulation machines in Maricopa County – which didn’t prevent anyone from casting their ballots – Election Day was calm.

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Each week I talk with , former state attorney general and proud conservative – and as we were taping today’s segment on what it takes to prove vote fraud, he had his own diagnosis of Tuesday’s vote.

“You know I think democracies work, right? If it’s true that election deniers suffered a lot of defeats, I’m sure not all of them, but maybe it’ll help Republicans take back their party from Trump,” McKenna said. “Certainly, you can see a lot of individual elections where the election denier lost and maybe a more normal candidate running on traditional conservative themes of fiscal prudence and fighting inflation won.”

I think there will be a wrestling match between Trump and DeSantis.

“Yeah, it does actually sound like WWE, doesn’t it? At the same time, what are the Democrats going to do? Are they really going to nominate someone who’s 82 years old to run for a second term? Is Gavin Newsom going to try to take him down?” McKenna said. “Both parties have a real problem going into the next elections, but I think Republicans have a bigger problem if they elect Trump as the nominee because I don’t think he can win. I think one of the reasons for that is that Liz Cheney will run as an independent and siphon off enough votes to guarantee he won’t win.”

And when it comes to the quality of the candidates on the ballot?

“I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that we thought that personal character and qualifications and qualities really mattered. It just seems now that a lot of voters just pick the candidate who’s saying the things that they want to hear, and they’re just overlooking every kind of disability and disadvantage, even disqualification, in normal times. It’s concerning, but maybe if enough of these people lose, we’ll get back to nominating solid, solid citizens from both parties who we can be proud to vote for.”

So if you’re looking for a better caliber of candidate – there’s your homework.

The next big election is in two years. That’s a lot of time.

Follow the news, start thinking about people who have the character traits and skills you want to see in a politician, and set up Google alerts so you can follow them and possibly support them.

If you find some, use social media – or just email – to pester the party of your choice to recruit them, and if after a few months you’re unable to find anyone worthy of your support…maybe it’s time for you to run.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on ³ÉÈËXÕ¾ Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.