After the Midterms

The Democratic victories in this midterm election were historic. As was the case in 2024, just with roles reversed, one side is celebrating hard and the other is busy assigning and deflecting blame. Now that we have most of the answers as to how the midterms went, the next logical question turns to what will Democrats do with their power in Congress, and how will the Trump administration respond to this repudiation of their actions over the last couple of years? 

Democrats should celebrate the midterm results for a short period of time. It is appropriate to feel the joys of victory when you have it. But the work for them is only just beginning. And if they believe that their primary job is to prosecute the current administration, then I believe that they will lose again before we know it. Now, holding systems of power accountable is critical, and there has been unprecedented corruption in the recent past, and this administration should be accountable to the ways it has taken advantage of the power it was given by the people. But while perhaps there has never been the corruption we have seen over the last two years, let’s not pretend that is the only corruption that exists. Let’s not forget that a part of what got Trump elected a decade ago was the rampant corruption in DC. More than people wanting to see one person or one group of people held accountable for being corrupt, the American people want to see corruption driven out of our public systems. So let the appropriate committees go after all corruption, but I don’t think that is the biggest thing that should be focused on by this Congress.

The question that has not been answered by the Democratic party in nearly a decade is what their vision is. I think one of the biggest things that emerged from both the election season in 2025 and 2026 has been that some individual candidates do have a real vision, yet I still don’t think the party has found its identity. If I were a strategist for Democrats, which I am not and nobody asked me, I would tell them to pass meaningful legislation that aims to address the issues they ran on that are impacting and important to all Americans. Focus the majority of the efforts on making life more affordable for people, ensuring that mega-corporations cannot use their vast wealth to make life harder for people, and supporting our society as a whole to reach its full potential, including things like addressing the climate crisis that continues to increase the frequency and severity of disasters and building trust and being a good partner to our allies around the world. Trump has veto power, but with the majority Democrats won they can now force Republicans to say through veto or vote if they believe in these things. The best case scenario would be that we see the two parties working together to address the crises our society is facing. If Republicans play politics and don’t want to work to address these issues that Americans, on both the ballot and in the polls, say are important to them, then voters will notice.

Can the Democratic party cooperate with itself to accomplish this? Some infighting is almost certain, and widespread ideological debate is not a bad thing in and of itself, but can the party accept its own diversity to move on a common agenda? I think the breadth of the Democratic party expands the Overton window and enables progress in ways that a single party ideology alone would not be able to. For a long time now the range of acceptable political ideas has been shifting to the right. This is in no small part, in my opinion, because the Democratic party has tried to silence the more extreme dimensions of the party. However the party’s base has spoken loudly for some time that the Democratic establishment does not resonate with large parts of the population. I have concerns with certain positions held within the Democratic party - this is a true statement of both parties for me - but the ability to hold differing points of view and debate them is foundational to democracy, the root of the party’s name. So have debates, find the places you agree, and move these common sense policy proposals forward as a party united in the mission to improve Americans’ lives. 

Now, as for the other party, if I were a strategist for Republicans, which I am not and nobody asked me, there is clearly a need to take a long look in the mirror here. The actions of this administration and Congress over the past two years have been historically unpopular. People trusted that the party would deliver on affordability, corruption, foreign policy, and more, and while this is not an absolute statement, many districts and states still voted for the party, but MAGA as it has existed for some time is clearly not a strategy to win national elections moving forward anymore. Donald Trump’s control over the party and our government has been unprecedented. He will go down in history for the absolute control he has been granted over the last decade. Sure some elected officials lost their jobs in primaries for standing up to him publicly, but many more lost their jobs in the general election after refusing to stand up to him. This is a time to get back closer to the traditional values that underpinned the party historically. 

Change is not a concern for me. I named the organization I started The Change Campaign. What does concern me is how greatly the pendulum is swinging in American politics more rapidly and more widely, creating instability for our society to build from. There has been a need for a long time for transformation in our public systems, but as was done when this country was founded, we need to be able to find common ground across ideological divides. The Full Press is an agenda that I believe and hope both sides can get on board with. There are other proposals out there as well. But we collectively need our government to focus on the fact that people are hurting, and to work together first and foremost to help address the needs we face as individuals and as a society, so that we can all thrive.

This election was a major statement by the electorate. While the past several elections seem to have been major statements, this one sure feels like it’s the loudest and most clear. In a divided government, it will be necessary for both parties to work together to get things done. I expect there to be a ton of fighting across parties, of course, but I hope that we see more bipartisanship than we have seen recently, with a common goal of helping our country live out its true creed.