Democrats in Array? It’s Hard to Deny After the Midterms

Democrats in Array? It’s Hard to Deny After the Midterms

A coalition that stretches from AOC to Manchin is protecting democracy, weakening Russia and pushing for marginalized groups.

ByFrancis Wilkinson

November 13, 2022 at 9:38 PM GMT+9

This is a golden era of the Democratic Party.

You’re not supposed to say that, of course, because acknowledging the obvious betrays a lack of sophistication. There is a thriving industry on the right, left and center that leaps at any chance to portray “Dems in disarray.” Still, the facts are pretty stubborn, and the results of last week’s midterm elections have defied history with the party maintaining control of the Senate and somehow chasing a long shot at the House.

Democrats rallied the nation, in the most crucial places, to block anti-democratic forces from gaining key positions of power. A White Christian nationalist and Jan. 6 cheerleader running for governor of Pennsylvania lost in a landslide. The Republican running for governor of Wisconsin, who said his party would never lose again once he was ensconced in power, will not get a chance to try his hand at one-party rule. If all goes well, the charismatic populist seeking to run Arizona will be kept out of office.

The creepy prospect that swing-state elections in 2024 might be overseen by election deniers has likewise been averted. None of the candidates who echoed Trump’s lies about voter fraud – either because they’re too propaganda-addled to grasp reality or too cynical to care – won an election for secretary of state. Meanwhile, Democrats flipped legislative houses in Michigan and Minnesota and may end up in control of the House in Pennsylvania, as well. The Associated Press put the statehouse victories in perspective:

Only twice since 1900 had the president’s party posted a net increase in state legislative seats during a midterm election — in 1934 during the Great Depression and in 2002, a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

President Joe Biden’s first two years have been a political and substantive success. As it did in 2009 and 2010, when the Democratic Party rescued capitalism (again) from the flames of financial crisis, and then expanded access to health care (again) to tens of millions, the party achieved landmark legislative victories. Despite barely perceptible majorities in Congress, Democrats made massive investments in infrastructure and clean energy that promise to enrich the nation and improve the world. Russia, a supporter of Biden’s predecessor and an aggressive foe to America, has been significantly weakened. And the Biden administration has accelerated a shift away from the “global value-chain economy,” a system that has made China a risky crossroads of global technology and American production.

Biden’s coherent policies have been ushered through the House of Representatives by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is widely considered by congressional scholars to be among the most skilled and successful speakers in American history. Even Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer surprised with his ability to pull occasional victories in a caucus that included Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kirsten Synema of Arizona – two exceptions that proved the rule of Democratic cohesion.

All this would represent a solid record under normal circumstances. But it has been especially impressive at a time when Republicans have been aggressively retreating from democratic norms, values and conduct. As democratic parties the world over have learned when confronted by an anti-democratic rival, it is difficult to maintain the rules that enable democracy to function if only one party consistently honors them. Democrats have now repelled Trumpists in three successive elections since 2018, and there are now notable, hopeful signs that the GOP’s turn away from democracy may pause, or even reverse.

Democracy is not the only burden that has fallen disproportionately to Democrats in recent years. All of the social advances for LGBTQ Americans and a host of others seeking power and respect in mainstream America must be borne by the Democratic coalition in the face of persistent resistance from Republicans. When social advances reach the point where they are broadly embraced, with scant political risk for those supporting them, Republicans climb aboard the train they previously blocked. Today, however, even previously settled advances like gay marriage may face renewed assault from reactionary judges and legislators.

In previous elections, the Democrats produced the nation’s first Black, and first woman presidential nominees. This November, they produced the first openly lesbian governors-elect, in Massachusetts and Oregon. 

Managing a coalition that stretches ideologically from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Manchin (and even makes room for the likes of Liz Cheney) is not easy. (On the positive side, it’s more than half the country.) Keeping that unwieldy institution from imploding while also governing a superpower and pushing forward the hopes and dreams of every marginalized group in the nation is tougher still.

It's the Republican Party’s job, of course, to make those tasks hard. But the GOP’s erratic leaders, shaky commitment to democracy and Trumpist dysfunction has made everything harder than it should be.

At some point, of course, the Democrats will make a mess of things. Good politics and policy, like good times, don’t last. Let’s hope that when that time comes, and conservatives are once again in charge, that the Republican Party is far removed from Trumpism or any similar inclinations. For now, the Democratic Party is a high-functioning institution handling complex problems in a very difficult environment.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:

Francis Wilkinson at fwilkinson1@bloomberg.net