WASHINGTON — Amazingly, I slept well on Election eve and missed the eerie lunar eclipse. I awoke to the sound of schoolboys playing on a bright beautiful fall day. The capital city was tied in knots over the national divide.

Still, I took the sound night’s sleep as a good sign, women’s intuition. Perhaps the day would pass in peace with no ex-president inciting mob violence.

Senate races in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia felt too close to call. I put my money down — a bet for a box of chocolates — on a few good candidates: Rep. Tim Ryan, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and the sonorous Rev. Senator Raphael Warnock.

Ryan is the quarterback next door, a stand-up guy. Fetterman looks like a giant woodcutter. Warnock is never without a good word, and a snappy dresser.

The tight battle for Senate control would be lost or won in their states: Midwest, Northeast and Deep South. It’s a shame the Democratic party helped Ryan’s bold campaign so little. Ohio was written off as a red state.

Note: they are all officeholders, unlike their opponents, who seek seats with zero experience. Even with former President Donald Trump’s endorsement, that counts heavily against the Republicans.

An author, an oily celebrity doctor and a star football player — yeah, right, J.D. Vance, Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker.

Politics isn’t that easy, now is it, fellas? The old expression goes, politics ain’t beanbag.

I went to vote at the church around the corner. Early voting is recommended, but I like the buzz and noise of neighbors at the polls.

You know?

Walking along, I recalled having a nightmare about evil Elon Musk taking over Twitter two weeks ago. Yes, that happened.

The nerve of that creature from another planet. To tell millions of followers to vote Republican is antidemocratic, “small d.” Let’s not even talk about Musk’s vicious retweet about Paul Pelosi, the House speaker’s husband, almost murdered in his bed.

Democracy in America used to be a thing. “The last best hope of earth,” President Abraham Lincoln said. After the Jan. 6 armed attack on the Capitol (which I witnessed from inside) we can’t say that anymore.

Democracy in America got a French writer’s attention two centuries ago. Alexis de Tocqueville travelled around the young republic and praised the open spirit, town meetings, citizens meeting each other on an equal plane. Yet in his classic study, he wrote that women were the secret reason for America’s greatness.

“Democracy” is a word that you hear all the time now. Six or seven years ago, it wasn’t repeated in private and public conversations. They say democracy is on the ballot. A professor once told me, when there’s a budge, it’s hollow or fragile.

We used to take our precious government for granted, with good sports, win or lose. I ran into a 90-year-old friend on the street on my way to the National Press Club. She said she’d never expected to live so long to see this sad state.

Meanwhile, near the Capitol they lay siege to, Stewart Rhodes and four fellow Oath Keepers are standing trial for seditious conspiracy.

Rhodes is a short, squat man with a pirate’s eye patch. He leads the violent white extremist group. Some marched in military gear into the sacred citadel.

Hearing their emails in court makes one seasick, awash in hateful threats. I had to see justice with my eyes, the gang under legal lock and key.

The ordeal that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her husband and family endured is engraved on her face. “This is a time for healing,” she told CNN, after “a one-sided assault on our democracy.”

At this writing at 9:45 p.m. on the East Coast, Ryan is pulling even, Fetterman is well ahead and Warnock has a narrow lead. These three races are too close to call now. In fact, I’ve never seen so many congressional races down to the wire. Never ever.

Broadly speaking, big cities are contesting the conservative rest of their states, like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and Atlanta in Georgia.

Said a man at the press club as he went out the door:

“I’m a Republican and I hate my party right now.”

Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. Follow her on Twitter @JamieStiehm.

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