Democrats' victory was clear. The party's future is not
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sweeping victories that led Democrats to their largest congressional majority in decades did little to resolve the party’s long-term debate over its identity and what it should stand for.
Tuesday's winners spanned the ideological spectrum and ranged from establishment veterans to political outsiders. Progressives achieved breakthrough victories in Senate races in Michigan and Maine, along with wins in competitive House races. More moderate Democrats scored stunning upsets in Republican strongholds such as Kansas and South Carolina, while flipping North Carolina and holding Georgia.
The results gave competing factions within the party reason to believe their approach was the right one, potentially deepening a debate over how Democrats should govern their new congressional majorities and position themselves for the 2028 presidential election.
“Midterm elections are primarily a referendum on the party in power,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a progressive Maryland Democrat, told The Associated Press. “But we should be clear that that doesn’t translate automatically into support for Democrats. We need to earn the support of voters.”
The larger fight over the party’s direction is expected to be central to the upcoming presidential primary, when a potentially crowded field of candidates will compete to define what Democrats should stand for after Trump’s second term.
“I think that debate will play out in 2028, and there should be an ideological brawl,” said California Rep. Ro Khanna, who said he would spend the holidays considering his own presidential ambitions.
Progressives had a lot on the line in the midterms, especially in the Senate races in Michigan and Maine, where candidates were running on unapologetically progressive platforms in what were expected to be the most crucial Senate races.
In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed — who was backed early by Sen. Bernie Sanders and joined late on the campaign trail by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — won in convincing fashion in one of the nation's premier swing states. Much of his campaign was run against the Democratic establishment, with his primary opponent backed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. He also was significantly outspent in both the primary and general election.
In Maine, progressive Troy Jackson defeated longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins after a late entry in the race. Other progressives also won across the country in battleground House races, including Michigan's Will Lawrence and California's Randy Villegas, who also won tough Democratic primaries.
Both El-Sayed and Villegas made clear in interviews with the AP that they don't intend to stand down when they get to Washington.
“I intend to be the kind of senator I have been as a candidate. To go and force the conversation about who we are and who we want to be,” El-Sayed said.
Villegas noted that progressives “had to beat our own party,” saying it shows that “when I get to Congress, I am not going there to do the bidding of any political party or leader.”
More moderate Democrats also scored big victories, particularly in swing state governor’s races. David Crowley defeated Republican Tom Tiffany by about 8 percentage points in Wisconsin, while Jocelyn Benson won Michigan’s governor’s race by nearly 11 points — almost four points more than El-Sayed's margin of victory.
The AP Voter Poll found that moderates made up a larger share of Democrats’ winning coalition than in recent elections. About half of voters who backed Democratic House candidates identified as moderates, compared with roughly 4 in 10 in the 2024, 2022 and 2018 elections. In key Senate races that flipped for Democrats, including Kansas, Iowa and North Carolina, moderates made up about half of the winning candidates’ voters.
But the poll also showed an ideological divide within the Democratic coalition. About one-third of voters who backed Democratic candidates identified as democratic socialists, including just under half of those ages 18 to 29, compared with about one-quarter of voters ages 65 and older.
Rahm Emanuel, the former congressman and White House chief of staff who is openly considering a 2028 presidential bid, argued that Democrats should pay particular attention to the candidates who flipped Republican-held seats.
“The people that flip red to blue, they’re the majority makers,” Emanuel said in an interview. “So you better be paying attention to them.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Schumer both got the majorities they sought. But those victories come with the challenge of leading ideologically diverse caucuses that include some members who campaigned against their leadership.
While Schumer and Jeffries are both expected to win another term as leader, the surrounding debate has already begun.
“My view is we need to have a full and honest discussion,” Van Hollen said when asked about supporting Schumer. “Whoever runs for leader should be able to lay out a clear vision about how we're going to use this power.”
El-Sayed similarly wouldn't commit either way, saying he would wait to see "what the options look like." He added that “we need new leadership.”
Even with control of both chambers, Democrats will face limits on their power. Trump retains veto authority, which he has already threatened to use, while Democrats will gain broad oversight and subpoena powers. But congressional leaders will also have to reconcile demands from an expanded progressive wing with those of the more moderate New Democrat Coalition and fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition.
Asked Wednesday about calls from the left to advance Medicare for All, Jeffries instead pointed to areas of agreement.
“What I think we all support — progressives, New Dems and Blue Dogs — is to move forward aggressively to reverse the Medicaid cuts and to move forward aggressively to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” he said.
Incoming Rep. Christina Bohannan, who defeated Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in a competitive House district, said Wednesday that she’s pleased to hear most of the Democrats joining the new House majority focused on lowering costs rather than “political games.” As long as fellow Democratic members stay focused on affordability “we’re going to get along great,” she said.
“People in districts like mine that are very mixed politically — they are so tired of the politics as usual,” Bohannan said.
Even before Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi had been decided, potential 2028 presidential contenders were holding calls with reporters to outline their visions for the party’s future — or, in the case of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, heading to Washington to make their case.
Pritzker was scheduled to speak Thursday at the Center for American Progress, a day after unveiling a 200-point policy agenda for the incoming Democratic Congress that calls for reversing Trump administration policies and expanding access to health care.
Van Hollen similarly said he was “kicking the tires” on a 2028 run and said the election revealed a “desire to unite behind a more populist agenda.”
“This debate that is kicking off with these elections about the future of the Democratic Party will determine whether Democrats are elected to the White House,” Van Hollen said.
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Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jonathan J. Cooper in Washington contributed to this report.
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