Hey, Uh, Democrats, Can You Finally Please Stop Fighting Over 2024?
Despite what one reads in centrist rhetoric (center-left strategists and pundits are the ones most aggressively bashing the party and suggesting it is in continuing electoral peril), Democrats’ biggest problems are not alleged left-wing excesses, but new problems that have emerged over the last year. The party has a moral duty to defend this administration’s targets, like immigrants, transgender Americans, and anyone from James Comey to Letitia James who has ever fought the president in public. It must also defend American democracy itself, because it is the only anti-authoritarian party we have left. At the same time, the party must win elections, while facing the troika of state-level Republicans, Trump, and the U.S. Supreme Court, who are rushing to entrench gerrymandering so deeply that the Republican Party is assured of control of the House, no matter how much it loses the popular vote.
Although there are new challenges, Democrats also have opportunities that didn’t exist last November. Trump’s unpopularity has paved the way for Democrats to not only win the House, but perhaps the Senate as well. Strong Senate candidates like Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Roy Cooper of North Carolina are running in part because Trump’s mediocre ratings give them a better chance of winning.
Furthermore, Mamdani’s astonishing campaign showed some strategies and tactics that other party members can borrow. You can’t exactly run on his agenda in Georgia or Montana, but offering simple ideas instead of Democrats’ usual tax credits and 14-point plans is a clear lesson from his victory. So is the emphasis on affordability and innovation in the use of social media. Some of Mamdani’s advisers are now helping Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner and Nebraska’s Dan Osborn, and perhaps they can flip seats in tough areas by simply being more attractive candidates than the usual Democrats.
