L-R: Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger, Mikie Sherrill, and Gavin Newsom Courtesy/Getty
MAGA reacts to abject failure with lies
MAGA is on the ropes and bleeding. On Tuesday, they lost elections in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. They lost to men and women. They lost to whites and minorities. They lost to Muslims and Christians. They lost in blue and red states. MAGA-curious, first-time GOP voters in 2024 saw their error and switched to the Democrats in 2025.
Everywhere, MAGA stood up and demanded,' Vote Republican.' Everywhere, the electorate said 'No.'
When it was all over bar the shouting, the losers yelled, "The new face of the Democrat [sic] Party is a foreign-born, socialist, brown, jihadist Muslim. A Party salivating to sex-traffick your daughters, sex-change your sons, mandate Marxism, install Sharia Law, rip up the flag, ban Christianity, steal your money, drink your blood, and sacrifice white babies to appease their America-hating, atheist God.”
But beyond the hysteria and hyperbole lies a simple truth: they lie. NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani received 1,036,051 votes—a substantial total. His was the first million-vote win in NYC since Liberal John Lindsey scored 1,149,106 in 1965. But it is merely desperate MAGA propaganda to say Mamdani is the new poster child of the left. The other Democratic winners on Tuesday night belie that cynical formulation.
The many faces of the Democratic Party
On the East Coast, Mamdani's substantial vote total easily trailed the numbers posted by Democratic Governors-elect Abby Spanberger in VA (1,940,898) and Mikie Sherrill in NJ (1,840,416). Those victors are both white women and avowed center-left. Spanberger describes herself as a "passionate pragmatist." Sherrill joined Congress's Blue Dog Democratic caucus.
Together with Zohran, Amy and Mikie represent the breadth of the left's philosophy. And the size and quality of its tent.
East and West
The voter's rejection of MAGA spanned the nation. On the West Coast, Californians reacted to Texas's election manipulation by granting authorities permission to gerrymander the Golden State. It wasn't close. The redistricting margin was 28%, 8 points larger than Harris's 20% margin of victory in California in 2024.
(Author's note: Non-partisan commissions should draw all electoral districts. Policy, not sharp practice, should decide elections. However, if one side cheats, the other should too. Moral victories are defeats excused.)
MAGA spin crashes into reality
Beyond their attempt to mischaracterize their opposition, MAGA has a second tactic to whitewash their failure. They dismiss Democratic victories as expected wins in blue states. But that is a duplicitous framing. In Virginia, a Democrat won a governorship held by a Republican. In Georgia, which had not elected a Democrat to a non-federal statewide office since 2006, two Democrats won seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Then there are the margins. New Jersey is a blue state, but one that had been trending red. In 2016, Trump won 41.4% of the presidential vote. In 2020, even as his vote share declined nationally, he won 41.3%. In 2024, he reached 45.9%.
The trend inspired Trump to believe NJ was a 2025 GOP pickup possibility. He campaigned for the Republican candidate, Jack Ciattarelli. And said, "New Jersey is ready to pop out of that blue horror show and vote for somebody that's gonna make things happen."
The polls gave his belief superficial substance — many had Sherrill clinging to the lead. But he and the pollsters were wrong — by a lot. In 2017, the Democrat won the governorship by 14%. In 2021, the margin declined to 3%. However, last week, Sherrill won by 14% in a romp.
In Pennsylvania, a purple state that voted for Trump in 2024, three liberal State Supreme Court Justices retained their seats in one-sided elections with margins of 23%.
Lessons learned
Among Democrats, liberals, and progressives exists a divide. The centrists and the left-wing debate the Party's optimal position. The center says the left is lost in the politics of identity and pronouns. The left says the center is Republican-lite and does not offer the alternative the voters crave. Both sides are wrong. There is no one-size-fits-all solution on the left.
NYC is not Virginia. Georgia is not California. Local candidates must run campaigns that talk to local voters' concerns.
However, the difference is only in degree. All Democrats, regardless of their demographic, want economic and health security. All want choice. All want affordable education and an equal shot at the American dream. All want the dignity and rights of every individual to be equal and upheld. All want clean water, clean air, safe food, and safe workplaces.
Which policies to stress is a choice best left to the individual candidates in 2026. The left does not need a national party dictating a central committee-approved message. And any pundit offering a cure-all is overestimating the quality of their analysis.
Postscript: 2028
With hard work and quality candidates in 2026, the Democrats will contest the 2028 general election as the majority Party in both the House and Senate. They will also have to coalesce behind a national presidential candidate. This broader need changes the dynamic. They will have a record to defend. And they will have to be a national message. But that is a bridge to be crossed later.
