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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow Democrats Could Win a Landslide
Anything will happen, but one reason I think there is a good chance Democrats will win in a landslide is by replicating the 2018 turnout gains. This is a detail that was lost but 2018 was not as big of a blue wave as it could have been because the electorate according to studies only voted for Clinton by 3-4%, only slightly bluer than the 2016 result. So it came from swing voters as well.
The same story appears to be happening in 2026, but in a completely different path in many ways. In 2026, Democrats are poised to roll back Republicans gains with nonwhite voters because many of these additional Republican votes were not particularly ideological, and also many feel like their identity is under attack, especially nonwhite immigrants, including wealthy Asians. The Republicans are also losing the white working class, which is potentially even more devastating for them because it would roll back their gains in Iowa, Ohio, and more, possibly leading Democrats to win the Governor and Senate seats there.
One of the biggest questions of this electoral cycle is whether or not Democrats will be able to make further inroads in the suburbs. The 2 reasons I think they will is in 2024, suburbs overall barely shifted red (and actually some got bluer in swing states especially Georgia) in the presidential election, and the Virginia and New Jersey elections had suburbs voting Democratic at Biden 2020 levels in New Jersey and even higher in Virginia. NJ's suburbs are more Republican down-ballot so those results were devastating for them to see with a blue Morris County in that year for the first time in decades.
orthoclad
(5,343 posts)appeal to the 1/3 of USians who didn't vote, and bring them out.
Why try to appeal to rethugs and Reich-wing-adjacent?
we need to stop pandering to the right, that drives down voter turnout from the left. Its been their strategy all this time, to try to get democrats to court voters who'll never vote for them and disillusion progressive voters into not voting at all. Look at what happened with Bernie Sanders. The Party decided that they would rather anoint Clinton, and it cost us the election because a lot of left wing voters turned away, or in the case of a couple members of my family, caused them to vote Trump.
Centrists keep leaning right, and we need to stop that.
orthoclad
(5,343 posts)Rather than expand the voting base, rightists will vote for the real thing rather than diluted conservatism.
Which president was it who said that many years ago?
They'll insist that democrats move to the right to try to court their electoral and independents, but then those types will never vote democrat anyway. They need to realize that most of their 'base' is to the left of the official party platform.
orthoclad
(5,343 posts)Real rightwingers will beat fake rightwingers all the time.
There's a whole damn electorate out there waiting to be wooed.
sboatcar
(936 posts)orthoclad
(5,343 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(24,668 posts)And if young voter turnout increases by even just 5-10%, it will be an unquestionable landslide
JustAnotherGen
(38,250 posts)Tom Kean Jr has his magapub firewall in Hunterdon County. Until he loses, he's winning.
Note: I was a new Committee Member in the County seat in 2018 when Malinowski won. He energized us. I don't see that for Rebecca Bennett. We also had Town Halls where we tore down Malinowski's Candidate - and those of us who couldn't get inside held ad hoc Democratic Party rallies.
Do I think the Dems will win the House? Yes. But the purple district activists in the North East are exhausted. I'm not doing this again.