Celebrate by Turning the Blowout into Durable Power

The anti-MAGA majority turned out and showed its muscle on November 3. Every demographic group voted less Republican than in 2024, with the biggest shifts coming from Latinos and young voters. 

The anti-fascist electoral alliance of Left and center (mostly) held. Both progressives and mainstream Democrats increased their strength.

MAGA took a drubbing at every level of government—federal, state, and local—and has lost the political initiative. A trend rooted in oligarchy and white Christian nationalism is not going away any time soon, but it has lost the initiative and will be mired in infighting for some time ahead. We have a much better chance of boxing Trump in during the last two years of his presidency, and a wider path toward putting an administration with a transformative agenda in power in 2028. 

The overall results show what can be done when grassroots social justice formations run appealing candidates with effective campaign operations, focus on affordability and peace, refuse to throw vulnerable populations under the bus, and double down on get-out-the-vote work. 

Left electoral breakthroughs this year ran ahead of what progressives and socialists have underneath them in terms of roots in the working class and communities of color, stable institutions, and democratic, membership-based organizations. But they provide a more favorable landscape for developing those via continuing electoral engagement and, crucially, a leap in grassroots campaigns and base-level organizing beyond the electoral arena. 

The electorate wants change and will sour on winners who fail to deliver results. They have given Congress a mandate to hold Trump and his enablers accountable for their lawlessness and corruption and to pass legislation that expands democracy and makes life more affordable—and dare Trump to veto it. Blue states and cities are charged with raising the bar for people-first economic and social policies, as Mamdani is doing. Red trifecta states, red states where trifectas have now been broken, and contested purple states will need to minimize harm and begin dismantling the structures that undergird racist one-party rule. 

Election wins that are based on saying no to the other team are fragile and easily reversed. To make them durable, we need to keep operating—in both rhetoric and action—as change agents. 

The election also saw JD Vance get it right for once in his life. The Iran War was a key reason the GOP got crushed. The voters have hoisted a big banner over Washington DC: End funding for the Iran War, withdraw support for the Israeli killing-and-ethnic-cleansing machine, put the US in a different relationship to the rest of the world. There is a growing realization that “domestic” and “foreign” policies are intertwined, so these must be action items, not talking points, as important as affordability and democratic rights. 

Key steps to build on our big win

The midterms delivered a resounding rejection of war and inflation, of self-dealing and corruption, of datacenters and AI, of ICE brutality and billionaire privilege, and of the way Trump has governed since the high point of his popularity in mid-2025. 

Some candidates drew positive enthusiasm; most of those were socialists and progressives, and centrists who campaigned on some version of affordability and hammered away at Trump. But a majority consensus has not yet formed behind a specific positive platform. Nor did the vote signal that the Democratic Party brand has been rehabilitated. Election wins that are based on saying no to the other team are fragile and easily reversed. To make them durable, we need to keep operating—in both rhetoric and action—as change agents. 

The kind of campaigns that Left candidates ran—and the day-in, day-out work of social justice organizations—puts us in a good position to push the entire anti-MAGA coalition to maintain this stance as we simultaneously build our own independent strength. 

Fight for unity in—and leadership of—the anti-MAGA front  

It took united electoral action by progressives and centrist Democrats to bring home November 3’s big win. Most on the Left knew that was necessary and advocated support for every candidate running against the GOP, even as we prioritized races that featured progressive candidates and/or were essential to flip control of the House, Senate, or state legislatures and governorships. Maintaining a unity-and-struggle stance in both electoral and non-electoral work over the next two years is the path to electing a progressive governing coalition in 2028. 

It is an article of faith among some on the Left that in high-stakes situations centrist Democrats always prioritize fighting the Left over defeating MAGA. This last election ought to put that dogma to rest. Yes, some Democrats sat out the anti-MAGA campaign in their areas, didn’t do all they could have to support progressives (Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries), or crossed over (Haley Stevens) to openly support a MAGA Republican. But the dominant trend among mainstream Democrats was to go the other way. Kamala Harris, Elissa Slotkin, and Gretchen Whitmer all endorsed Abdul El-Sayed; the Michigan Democratic Party condemned Stevens and her entire staff resigned. And in several key races the Democratic mainstream put money where their rhetoric was: progressives Will Lawrence in Michigan and Randy Villegas in California were among the top five recipients of House Majority PAC funds. Both won. And El-Sayed received more money from Democratic Party groups than any other Democratic Senate candidate except Sherrod Brown (an economic populist) in Ohio. 

Centrist Democrats didn’t suddenly fall in love with progressives and socialists. They recognized that sentiment in the electorate was moving our way and we were fielding candidates who could tap that sentiment and win. They saw that our candidates who lost in primaries generally (and in some cases enthusiastically) campaigned for the winner, and most of us weren’t into performative stunts that would alienate rather than attract potential voters. 

The gains progressives and socialists made by pursuing this course—and the heightened support for issues we lead in advocating—position us well to navigate the complexities of our relationships with the more centrist Democrats in the next two years. This fall’s momentum can propel us through intra-party battles—and non-electoral campaigns—to end the Iran War and stop all aid to Israel, promote a bold affordability program, abolish ICE, rein in the illegitimate Supreme Court, and more. The mainstream made gains too, so we need to retain a hard-nosed assessment of the balance of forces even as we keep pushing the envelope. Fighting hard for our issues at the same time as we keep positioning ourselves as the most militant and reliable opponents of MAGA can lead to even bigger gains in the 2028 Democratic primaries, including the one for the presidential nomination. 

Say yes to economic populism, no to social hierarchy and white supremacy 

The embrace of economic populism, an “affordability” agenda, and explicit appeals to working-class interests by both progressives and centrists is a big step forward. Affordability resonated with every demographic group and was crucial to turning out infrequent voters and shifting segments of those who had voted for Trump in 2024. Fighting hard and delivering the goods on this front is crucial for turning anti-MAGA voters into consistent supporters of a progressive agenda.

At the same time, the success of “affordability” campaigning should spur us to deepen our understanding and practice around the ways class intersects with the structural hierarchies of race and gender—not to conclude these no longer need special attention. 

Fearmongering about immigrants, Muslims, and trans people remains central to the MAGA agenda, and a racial subtext underlies their fearmongering about socialists and communists. Misogyny and promotion of toxic masculinity likewise run deep in MAGA thinking and messaging. Such bigotry didn’t carry the day this time, showing that refusal to throw any group under the bus—embedded in people-first campaigns—is not only a moral imperative and keystone of solidarity but a political winner. 

Still, it is a sobering reminder of the country we live in that the majority of white voters backed Republicans. 

Central to MAGA’s strength is their successful effort over the last few decades to rebuild, across roughly half the country, the types of one-party regimes that defined the Jim Crow South.

The specificity of anti-Black racism—and on the flip side, the resilience and power of the Black freedom movement—also requires special mention. Anti-Black racism has been at the heart of the 60-year right-wing campaign to gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The depth of that animus was on full display in the glee and speed with which the GOP moved to gerrymander away Black representation after the Roberts Court gave them the green light in Louisiana v. Callais. While succeeding in several states—Tennessee being the most egregious example—this attack spurred an outpouring of resistance in Black communities throughout the South. Turnout surged, overcoming voter suppression and gerrymanders to drive or contribute substantially to major wins in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas, and near-victories in the Senate races in Florida and Louisiana. Black women in particular made history in this election, not only as organizers but as candidates, sweeping top state offices in Georgia and winning seats in the US Senate and House.

It is a reminder that the Black Freedom Movement has often been the driving force of the expansion of democracy for all. And nowhere is it more important to strengthen and flank this movement than in the states of the former Confederacy.

Dismantle MAGA’s authoritarian enclaves, organize the South

Central to MAGA’s strength is their successful effort over the last few decades to rebuild, across roughly half the country, the types of one-party regimes that defined the Jim Crow South. This was not a spontaneous process driven by voters from the bottom up. It was the result of a deliberate strategy by a faction of the billionaire class and diehard white supremacists in which the key breakthrough was gaining control of the Supreme Court. Their packed judicial body gutted the Voting Rights Act and opened the floodgates to a virtually unlimited role for money in politics, setting the stage for voter suppression, gerrymandering, and “company town” economics to turn the states of the former Confederacy and other mostly white, less populous states into “authoritarian enclaves.” Not only did this negatively impact the rights and life conditions of the inhabitants of those states, but it also gave the GOP a huge edge in national politics given the undemocratic structures of the US Senate and the Electoral College.

Breaking up one-party rule in the states of today’s “Greater Confederacy” is therefore crucial to building a durable democracy in the US. And the scale of Democratic wins in “Greater Confederacy” states now offers the opportunity to do just that. Democrats won governorships, flipped one or both legislative houses, and/or broke GOP legislative supermajorities in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, and Arizona. 

Energized Black voters are ready to keep the momentum going in these states, plus Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky. They are increasingly joined by Latino voters, whose big shift leftward was due both to affordability concerns and to rejection of ICE’s racial profiling. 

This effort is crucial: the “Trump Gerrymander” of this past year backfired in numerous places, but 20-plus years of racist gerrymandering of both US House and state legislative districts still stands as a barrier to majority rule. Given sufficient investment in southern grassroots power-building organizations and electoral campaigns by both the national Democratic Party and nationwide progressive formations, this key component of MAGA’s strength can be dismantled. (Failure to devote national resources to this year’s Black-led campaigns in several southern states at the Senate, House, and state levels was a costly reflection of longstanding thinking among national Democratic strategists that victory in the South is impossible; failure to back the insurgent candidacy of Angie Nixon even when she was showing clear potential to win was the most egregious case.) 

…[O]ver the long haul—in terms of building durable power—election wins are downstream from the size, strength, and democratic character of organizations rooted in the constituencies that have the desire and capacity to fight for deep-going change.

While there is a unique importance to breaking up MAGA’s domination of red states, the many powers reserved for state governments in the US federal system make a full “50-state strategy” a must for the Left. Democrats won new trifectas in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Wisconsin and now hold 22, the most in decades. The combination of public opinion shifting leftward and progressive electeds gaining ground in many of these states opens up the potential for numerous states to emulate the 2023 “Minnesota Miracle,” in which the state enacted groundbreaking progressive and pro-labor laws. These state-level Third Reconstructions can be a pole of attraction drawing people into the fight for a full-scale Third Reconstruction nationwide. 

Seize the moment to change US foreign policy

In today’s interconnected world, reconstructing the United States requires transforming the country’s relationship with the rest of the world. The longstanding Washington-dominated world order has “ruptured.” The US will play a role in shaping what comes next, and be shaped by it as well. The battle over the direction that change will take is underway, and the election results put the Left in position to influence the outcome. Opposition to the Iran War and disgust with US complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide were key factors in the voting. Candidates in tune with those sentiments triumphed over massive spending, red-baiting, Islamophobia, and charges of antisemitism to win elections. There is wider public questioning of US foreign policy than at any time since the years immediately following the Vietnam War. 

Proposals for a radical change in US foreign policy are coming from policy experts and being carried into mainstream politics by Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani, and AOC as well as peace, solidarity, climate justice, feminist, labor, and migrant rights activists. This is a moment of opportunity not to be missed. 

Sink roots, build organization 

Finally, let us remind ourselves that for all the disgust with Trump and MAGA, and for all the hardships and injustices that sparked tremendous anger and hunger for change, this midterm win came about because tens of thousands of people put in a prodigious amount of work. 

The canvassing, phone banking, fundraising, media-making, rally organizing and more done by Black Voters Matter, Indivisible, DSA, Working Families Party, Progressive Democrats of America, Our Revolution, Seed the Vote, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a host of labor unions and workers centers, the national community organizing networks, a host of state-based, sector-based and local power-building organizations, the Movement Voter Project, candidates who prioritized pounding the pavement over closed-door meetings with big donors, and thousands and thousands of not-yet-organized people—that’s what made it happen. 

A shout out as well to Freedom Trainers, May Day Strong, and all those groups that prepared people to respond to all the ways MAGA might try to steal the election. Such preparation, combined with the scale of the victory and the conscience of election workers, election officials and many judges and officeholders, has protected the results so far. But until the new Congress is duly seated on January 3–and beyond that, until January 20, 2029–we can’t let down our guard on this front: Trump just appointed his administration’s leading proponent of extreme measures to steal an election, Stephen Miller, as his chief of staff. 

Elections are a crucial battlefront, and at times an election win can run ahead of the infrastructure underneath it. But over the long haul—in terms of building durable power—election wins are downstream from the size, strength, and democratic character of organizations rooted in the constituencies that have the desire and capacity to fight for deep-going change. For all the gains progressives and socialists have made since 2016, and for all the victories from the most recent balloting, the broad Left is still far from where we need to be on this. 

So it’s time to devote the same level of energy, thought, time, and money we gave to the midterms to rebuilding (or building new) mass organizations and durable institutions willing to contest for power and capable of sinking roots in the multiracial, gender-inclusive working class and all its potential allies. This means waging struggles at the workplace, organizing the unorganized and rebuilding the labor movement. Digging into fights against police abuse, mass incarceration and ICE. Gathering people together in person (not strictly on the internet) to fight around housing, homelessness, and reproductive rights. Investing in campus and neighborhood organizing to bring the vast numbers of youth who turned out to vote against MAGA into organizations that fight for their interests and develop their skills. And more. 

We are coming off a big win. Let’s savor it. Celebrate it. And above all, let’s build on it.