Hey, Uh, Democrats, Can You Finally Please Stop Fighting Over 2024?

Despite what you read in centrist screeds (center-left strategists and pundits are those most aggressively bashing the party and suggesting it’s in permanent electoral peril), Democrats’ biggest problems aren’t alleged left-wing excesses, but new issues that have emerged over the last year. The party has a moral duty to defend the targets of this administration, such as immigrants, transgender Americans, and anyone, from James Comey to Letitia James, who has ever battled the president in public. It also must defend American democracy itself, because it’s 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 rushing to entrench gerrymandering so deeply that the GOP is guaranteed to control the House no matter how much they lose the popular vote by.

While there are new challenges, Democrats also have some opportunities that didn’t exist last November. Trump’s unpopularity has created a path for Democrats not only to win the House, but perhaps the Senate too. Strong Senate candidates like Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper are running in part because Trump’s lackluster ratings give them a better chance of winning.

Also, Mamdani’s stunning campaign has shown some strategies and tactics that others in the party can borrow. You can’t run on his exact platform in Georgia or Montana, but proposing simple ideas instead of the Democrats’ usual tax credits and 14-point plans is a clear lesson from his win. So is focusing intensely on affordability and being innovative in social media use. 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 challenging areas by simply being more interesting candidates than the usual Democrats.