“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT’, according to Pollsters,” he wrote. He did not identify the pollsters in question.
Also, really? The Dems had their own reasoning – Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House of Reps, said the results reflected the Republicans’ failure to manage the cost of living – but surely the main reason they did well is that the states involved in the biggest races were New York, New Jersey, Virginia and California. None of them voted for Trump in 2024. And Virginia and New Jersey both have track records of electing governors from the party that is not in the White House.
To be fair, if you’re a Democrat, you’re looking at the decisive margins and seeing this as a springboard for a massive push to retake the House of Representatives at next year’s midterms, rendering Trump a lame duck.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger arrives at an election night party in Virginia.Credit: Bloomberg
However, there are mixed lessons from these victories – ones that only amplify the identity crisis consuming Democrats in the Trump era. Do you take your cues from moderates – Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey – or from the left-wing populism of Mamdani, who is more like fellow democratic socialist Bernie Sanders than Democratic governors such as Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer or Josh Shapiro.
Speaking of, Democratic strategist and former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod saw one big winner of the night: Newsom. “He took a gamble on the voters of his state, and pushed back on Trump’s trespasses in a real, meaningful and tangible way. Dems eager for strong leaders in this moment, will remember,” Axelrod said on X.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill celebrates her win in New Jersey.Credit: Bloomberg
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For the Democrats, the night’s main takeaway will be energy more than strategy. They will, as Newsom said, see themselves “in the ascendancy”, not on the back foot, for the first time in a while. And they will think Americans are not as enamoured by Trump’s bread and circuses as he would have people believe.
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