The lesson of 2018 for Democrats is not that they need a more moderate message for rural voters

… We’re now firmly in the analysis phase of the 2018 midterm elections, an election cycle in which Democrats slightly overperformed expectations in the House while seeing a net loss in the Senate, winning two-thirds of the contested Senate seats. One of the central questions for the party centers on […] Read more »

Across South, Democrats Risk Speaking Boldly and Alienating Rural White Voters

When Mike Espy, the Democrat challenging Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, faced his opponent at a debate ahead of this Tuesday’s runoff election, he had to make a choice: confront Ms. Hyde-Smith over her comments about attending “a public hanging,” which evoked the state’s racist history, or take a milder […] Read more »

In suburban South, Democrats break into Republican strongholds

Democrats may call Tuesday’s election a wave, but look closer and you’ll see the latest evidence of a longer-term shift in the suburban vote away from the Republican Party. This metropolitan realignment was so powerful this year that its impacts were felt in places that until now had largely been […] Read more »

The battle for the Sun Belt

Opportunity and necessity alike are pushing Democrats to focus more intently on gaining ground across the Sun Belt in next week’s election, from Florida and Georgia in the Southeast to Nevada and Arizona in the Southwest. The opportunity comes from changing demographics: with their young, diverse populations and in most […] Read more »