Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
Landslide Democratic victories…now there’s a phrase that I’d almost forgotten how to type. But it has leapt from my keyboarding fingers and landed on the screen with the full force of factual reality. And it carried a message potent enough to knock Trump on his ass and put his MAGA minions on notice that their authoritarian dreams may be dashed.
The message in a nutshell: Trump 2.0 sucks.
Granted, all the blue triumphs in last night’s “off-year” tallies happened in states where Democrats traditionally win or strongly compete. But what’s most significant were their size and sweep, as evidenced by these stunning highlights:
• Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate, was expected to win or lose by a point or two because she seems kinda dull and because Trump made inroads in the state last year. But pointwise, she won by a whopping 13. She racked up 1.8 million votes, half a million more than exiting Democratic governor Phil Murphy tallied in either of his two wins. In last year’s presidential election, Kamala Harris barely won the state, but Sherrill outperformed Harris in every single county and captured five counties that Trump won in ‘24. Voters told exit pollsters that the economy was the top issue; those who prioritized the economy favored Sherrill by 20 points. Indeed, Sherrill stressed “kitchen table” issues and ignored all the culture war stuff (pronouns, etc.) that tripped up the Dems last year. And Trump, in his stupidity, did himself no favors by canceling or freezing infrastructure projects that’d benefit New Jersey commuters.
• Abigail Spanberger, Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate (who, like Sherrill, has national security credentials and is currently in Congress), also stressed the kitchen-table issues, “pragmatism over partisanship.” She won by 14 points — making her the first woman to lead the state since its founding in 1776. And her victory share (57%) was the biggest for any Democratic gubernatorial candidate since 1961. Her own credentials aside (winning three races in a conservative congressional district), she too was aided by Trump’s destructive impulses. The northern Virginia suburbs are ground zero for federal workers - the same workers that Trump has been firing during the MAGA government shutdown. According to the statewide exit polls, 59% of Virginia voters said they’ve been affected by the MAGA government cuts; of those people, 69% voted for Spanberger.
• In California, roughly 65% of the voters said yes to Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw the House district boundaries in a way that will help Democrats pick up five congressional seats in the 2026 midterm elections. This is boring stuff for a lot of casual observers. But the California ballot measure is a crucial counterpoint to Trump’s plan to redraw the maps elsewhere to create new MAGA seats and in other ways rig the ‘26 results. Trump is rightly worried about ‘26 (for reasons I’ll mention a few paragraphs south), and Newsom stepped up nicely to twist the knife.
• In Pennsylvania, which was Trump turf last year, 61% of voters retained three state Supreme Court judges that favor abortion rights — thus cementing the Democrats’ 5-2 high bench majority. And in Maine, 64% of voters rejected a MAGA ballot measure that would’ve limited absentee voting, reduced the number of drop boxes … the usual stuff designed to combat non-existent voter fraud.
OK. If you’ve read this far, you’re probably asking “But what about Zohran Mamdani?” The corollary question may well be, “But won’t the election of a Muslim socialist mayor in New York City destroy whatever progress Dems have made nationally to conquer their 2024 PTSD?”
My answer: No, it won’t.
Granted, Trump and his gang will treat Mamdani as a MAGA chew toy and try to make him the face of the national Democratic party, but pragmatic centrists like Sherrill and Spanberger — along with other high-profile Democratic governors like Newsom, Josh Shapiro, J.B. Pritzker and Andy Beshear — will have more to say about the future of the blue party than a mayor in NYC. And as various past mayors (Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio), can surely attest, governance in that unique urban environment rarely if ever brands a national party.
So let the MAGAts rant about Mamdani. The key grassroots dynamic right now is hatred of Trump. He was on the ballot everywhere Nov. 4 in all but name, to his detriment. His lies about the economy (the best ever! tariffs are great!) carry no weight. Poll after poll these last few weeks told us this. His overall approval rating has dropped to as low as 37%; a stunning 61% say he has made the economy worse. I’m sure that some voters were angry for other reasons (the ICE raids, the East Wing demolition, bombing alleged “drug boats,” screwing people on food stamps, demonizing everyone who refuses to kiss his ass), but high prices clearly topped the list. Indeed, the “affordability” theme clicked for Mamdani just as it did for the winning women in Jersey and Virginia.
Another national survey shows that many of the voters who tilted to Trump in ‘24 now have buyer’s remorse, thanks to their subsequent lived experience. According to the latest Economist/YouGov stats, support for Trump’s handling of inflation has dropped 31 points since February; support for his handling of “economy and jobs” has dropped 21 points. Most notably, support from young people (18 to 29) has dropped 30 points, and his approval rating among independents is…check this out…28%.
That’s the mood at the moment. If the blue party can build on what just happened — stressing kitchen-table issues across the board, winning with progressivism that can drive turnout in places like NYC, winning with centrist messaging in more moderate states and districts — it still may be possible to rescue this benighted nation, to save democracy before it’s snuffed.
Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist, alumni of the Philadelphia Inquirer and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.substack.com and is distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Email dickpolman7@gmail.com.
