Democrats Might Avoid a Midterm Wipeout

If Democrats avoid the worst outcome in November’s midterm elections, the principal reason will likely be the GOP’s failure to reverse its decline in white-collar suburbs during the Donald Trump era. That’s a clear message from yesterday’s crowded primary calendar, which showed the GOP mostly continuing to nominate Trump-style culture-war […] Read more »

McConnell wants to win the suburbs by defusing cultural hot buttons. Trump and his own party have other ideas.

When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted for the most significant gun violence prevention bill in nearly three decades, he offered a candid explanation for his turnaround after decades of opposing firearm restrictions. “It’s no secret that we’ve lost ground in suburban areas. We pretty much own rural and small-town […] Read more »

The two issues that could disrupt the 2022 elections

Momentous and tragic events are driving public attention back toward abortion rights and gun control, two issues that keyed the Democratic advance in well-educated suburbs over the past generation. And that could create the Democrats’ best chance of defending those gains in the stormy environment of the 2022 midterm elections. […] Read more »

America’s Suburbs: Ground Zero in 21st Century Politics

People often talk about politics as though the business of electing candidates is shrouded in nearly infinite complexity. The reality is that for most of the 40 years I have been in and around campaigns, winning has often come down to just three factors — the racial composition of a […] Read more »

The GOP’s fruitless search for the next Glenn Youngkin

In the aftermath of Glenn Youngkin’s upset victory in the Virginia governor’s race, Republicans have been scrambling to find other candidates in the image of the outsider businessman who was able to keep some distance from former President Trump. As one Youngkin adviser told National Journal, the key to swing-state […] Read more »