WASHINGTON — At least for a day, beleaguered Democrats have hope again. But beneath the party’s relief at securing its first major electoral victories since the drubbing it took last November lie unresolved questions about its direction ahead of next year’s U.S. midterm elections.
The electoral drubbing they dealt to Republicans extended from the deeply Democratic states of New York and California to the politically swing states of Georgia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. There were signs that key groups of voters, including young people, black and Hispanic voters who swung toward Donald Trump‘s Republican Party just a year ago, may have decided to support Democrats again. And Democratic leaders across the political spectrum united behind a simple message focused on Trump’s failure to address rising costs and other everyday issues that directly affect people.
The party’s dominant performance sparked a new debate between its most traditional pragmatists and its most radical progressives regarding what strategy led to Tuesday’s victories, and what path to take toward the crucial 2026 midterm elections and beyond. The lessons Democrats draw from these victories will help shape the party’s core message and its spokespeople next year — when elections will decide the balance of power in Congress during the second half of Trump’s term — and potentially in the 2028 presidential race, which has already entered its early stages.
“Of course, there is a divide within the Democratic Party. It’s not a secret,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told reporters at a Capitol news conference on the election results.
Sanders and his chief political strategist pointed to the success of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani — a socialist-leaning Democrat — as a model for Democrats nationwide. But Rep. Suzan Del Bene, who is leading House Democrats’ midterm campaign strategy, avoided mentioning Mamdani’s name when asked about his success.
Instead, Del Bene celebrated the moderate approach taken by Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in successful gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, calling it a more viable avenue for candidates outside a Democratic stronghold like New York City.
“New York is bright blue (highly Democratic) … and the path to winning a majority in the House of Representatives will be through purple districts (very competitive),” he told The Associated Press. “The people of Arizona, Iowa and Nebraska are not focused on the mayor of New York.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — a likely Democratic presidential prospect who campaigned alongside Democratic candidates in several states ahead of Tuesday’s election — noted that the candidates hit on a common theme that resonated with voters regardless of where they were located.
“All of these candidates who won in these different states focused on the everyday needs of people,” Shapiro observed. “And it was possible to see voters in each of those states and cities show up (to the polls) to send a clear message to Donald Trump that they are rejecting his chaos.”
Criticism within the same party
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Amid the Democrats’ celebratory phone calls and press conferences, members of the party’s various factions expressed some pointed criticism of their peers.
Although Shapiro celebrated the Democrats’ success during an interview Wednesday, he also acknowledged that there are concerns about Mamdani in New York.
Shapiro, one of the nation’s most prominent elected Jewish leaders, indicated that he is uncomfortable with some of Mamdani’s comments about Israel. The elected mayor of New York, who is Muslim, has said that the Israeli government’s response to the attacks on October 7, 2023 was a “genocide” against the Palestinian people, and has been slow to condemn rhetoric linked to anti-Semitism.
“I’ve expressed that to him personally. We’ve had good private communications,” Shapiro said of his concerns. “And I hope, as he did last night in his victory speech, that he will be a mayor who protects all New Yorkers and tries to bring people together.”
Meanwhile, Sanders political strategist Faiz Shakir warned Democrats against embracing “canvassed campaigns that say nothing and do nothing,” a reference to centrist Democrats Spanberger and Sherrill.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat who defeated socialist-leaning Democrat Omar Fateh to win a third term, declared at a news conference Wednesday that “we have to love our city more than our ideology.”
“We need to do everything we can to reject authoritarianism and what Donald Trump is doing,” Frey said. “And at the same time, the opposite of Donald Trump’s extremism is not the extreme opposite.”
Democrats win everywhere
Despite potential cracks in the Democratic coalition, it is difficult to underestimate the extent of the party’s electoral success.
In Georgia, two Democrats easily defeated Republican incumbents in the state’s Public Service Commission elections, achieving the largest statewide margins of victory for Democrats in more than 20 years.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats not only swept three state Supreme Court races, but every county office in politically swing counties like Bucks and Erie, including police chiefs. Bucks County elected its first Democratic district attorney, and Democrats there also won crucial races for the county’s school board and judges.
Maine voters shot down a Republican-backed measure that would have required showing ID at the polls. Colorado approved raising taxes on people earning more than $300,000 annually to fund school meal programs and food assistance for low-income residents of the state. And California voters overwhelmingly backed an initiative led by Gov. Gavin Newsom to redraw their legislative map, aiming to give Democrats up to five more seats in the House of Representatives in the next election.
Key groups return to support Democrats
Trump made gains among black and Hispanic voters in 2024. But this week, Democrats posted strong performances among nonwhite voters in New Jersey and Virginia that show promise.
About 7 in 10 voters in New Jersey were white, according to the AP Voter Poll. And Sherrill took about half of that group. But he made up for his relative weakness among whites with a strong showing among black, Hispanic and Asian voters.
The vast majority — about 9 in 10 — of black voters backed Sherrill, as did about 8 in 10 Asian voters.
Hispanic voters in New Jersey were more divided, but about two-thirds supported Sherrill. Only 3 in 10 voted for the Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli.
The pattern was similar in Virginia, where Spanberger performed well among black, Hispanic and Asian voters, although he did not win the support of a majority of white voters.
Democrats will soon have to make decisions
The debate over the party’s future is already beginning to unfold in key midterm elections, in which Democrats have just begun internal primary contests.
The options are drastic in the crucial race in Maine for the Senate, where Democrats will choose between several candidates, including the traditionalist favorite, Governor Jan Mills, and the populist Graham Platner, backed by Sanders. A similar dynamic could play out in key races in Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Michigan.
Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed, who identifies with the party’s progressive wing, said people he speaks to are demanding bold action from him to address their economic concerns.
“People are so frustrated by how difficult it has become to live a decent life here in Michigan and across the country,” he noted.
“I’m sure corporate donors don’t want us to push too hard,” El Sayed continued. “My concern is that the same people who told us we were fine in 2024 don’t understand what people want.”
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Associated Press reporters Mike Catalini in Newark and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.
