A few days before he won re-election by 22 points, Gov. Josh Shapiro was barely mentioning his Republican opponent anymore.
asserted
Shapiro → win → opponent
He’d share his stages with local Democratic candidates, ask for a Democratic majority in the state Senate, and explain what it could do.
uncertain
it → share → what
“I’m going to the good people of Pennsylvania, saying: I want to raise your minimum wage,” Shapiro told Semafor.
asserted
Shapiro → go → Semafor
“I want to have a big housing and critical infrastructure fund.
asserted
I → want → fund
That’s the stuff they can expect to see from us, and I’m going to stay true to that.”
asserted
I → ’ → that
Tuesday’s Democratic landslides gave the party full control of multiple swing states — not just Shapiro’s Pennsylvania, but Wisconsin, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Minnesota.
asserted
landslides → give → states
Democrats won legislative trifectas big enough to pass progressive bills that had gathered dust and lint under Republican control.
asserted
that → win → control
Instead, swing-state governors plan to focus on popular economic proposals that won over voters –– lowering living costs, taxes, and healthcare — and not the left-wing agenda items demonized in billions of dollars in GOP ads.
asserted
that → plan → ads
After their biggest wins in decades, Democratic state leaders are coalescing around moderation, rather than the progressive politics that shaped the party in Trump’s first term and during Joe Biden’s presidency.
asserted
that → coalesce → presidency
“I’m committed to moving our state forward,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told reporters at her first press conference as governor-elect.
asserted
Klobuchar → commit → elect
In Wisconsin, where Democrats won their first governing trifecta since 2008, Gov.-elect David Crowley ran on expanding Medicaid, which Republicans in Madison refused to do for eight years under retiring Gov. Tony Evers.
asserted
Republicans → win → Evers
“We’re going to expand access to quality affordable healthcare that offers real options for families, our children, our seniors, and people with disabilities,” Crowley said after beating GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany.
asserted
Crowley → go → Tiffany
Medicaid expansion was also top of mind for Democratic winners in Georgia and Texas, where the party elected governors and won control of the lower house of their state legislatures.
asserted
party → elect → legislatures
In DC, Democrats plan to fight next year to restore Medicaid funding that was cut or restricted by Republicans in 2025; in states, Democrats are confident that Republicans, chastened by their losses, might be willing to expand health care coverage.
uncertain
Republicans → plan → coverage
“I truly believe that this is an issue we can get bipartisan support with,” Georgia Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms said on Wednesday.
asserted
Bottoms → believe → Wednesday
Not on the agenda: progressive bills focused on crime and social issues.
asserted
bills → focus → crime
In New York state, the passage of cash bail reform during Trump’s presidency became a target for Republicans who over-performed in 2022 and 2024, blaming Democrats for a temporary rise in crime.
asserted
who → become → crime
In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz’s 2022 sweep helped Democrats pass a pile of bills that were halted by Republicans.
asserted
that → help → Republicans
That made him a surprising star among left-leaning Democrats — and gave Republicans a number of attack points against his party in 2024, such as when they mocked “Tampon Tim” for making sanitary products available in boys’ restrooms in public schools.
asserted
products → make → schools
Democrats are talking more cautiously now, and the party is rooting them on from DC.
asserted
party → talk → DC
At a Thursday post-election conference organized by the Center for American Progress, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said that the people who’d beaten invincible-looking Republicans needed space to vote and govern their way.
asserted
who → organize → space
That, he said, could help the whole party.
uncertain
he → say → party
“Instead of letting Fox News define what a Democrat is, our Democrats in these states will define what a Democrat is,” said Schumer.
asserted
Schumer → let → states
Even some Democrats who had endorsed more progressive policies in the past were urging the party to focus on economic needs first, and convince the voters who broke from the GOP this year that the party deserved a long-term mandate.
asserted
party → endorse → mandate
In a memo shared with supporters of the Democracy Alliance, a progressive donor collective, the group urged Democrats with trifectas to “pass structural reforms that make it easier for everyone to participate in our democracy, and to improve the lives of working families — setting a model for what’s possible nationwide.
asserted
what → share → model
It would be a mistake, it said, for the party to “take any of this cycle’s demographic swings for granted.”
asserted
party → say → swings
David’s view
The slow-moving Democratic story of the last two years has been the end
asserted
story → move → years
After their 2018 wins, many influential Democrats and their donors suggested that a new, more progressive majority was forming as a reaction to Donald Trump.
uncertain
majority → suggest → Trump
That confidence decreased after their 2020 victory, which was narrower than they expected, and it was shredded in 2024.
asserted
it → decrease → 2024
This time, Democrats generally agree that “economic populism” won everywhere, that voters gave them a chance because prices were too high, and that they had defused the power of some cultural issues by telling voters they would not act on them.
asserted
they → agree → them
That is going to be tested next year, but it’s the plan right now.
asserted
it → go → ?
Room for Disagreement
Kelley Robinson, the president of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, told Semafor that the “first thing that we’re going to ask [Democrats] to deliver on is showing how they can make life more affordable for all Americans, including the LGBTQ+ community.”
asserted
life → tell → community
If Democrats believed that they could pass economic bills and not pass the Equality Act, which would enshrine civil rights protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, they were mistaken, she said.
uncertain
she → believe → orientation
“I would just remind folks that advocating for the LGBTQ+ community is an affordability issue,” said Robinson.
asserted
Robinson → remind → community
“Look, if I can get fired at work because of my sexual orientation or gender identity, that is an economic issue.
asserted
that → look → orientation
If I’m not allowed to shop in certain stores because of my sexual orientation or gender identity, that is an economic issue.
asserted
that → allow → orientation
If my kids cannot go to a school because they are the children of LGBTQ+ parents, please believe that is an economic issue that’s going to be hitting my pocketbook.”
asserted
that → go → pocketbook
Notable
- For Axios, Torey Van Oot covered Klobuchar and how her fellow Democrats were setting the table for their new trifecta.
asserted
Democrats → cover → trifecta
“We don’t have a list of pent-up things that people want to pass,” said Senate Democratic Leader Erin Murphy, who in 2018 ran against Walz for governor from the left.
asserted
who → have → left
The Aporia
