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Yesterday’s election has major implications for the political era ahead. The scale of Democratic congressional victories lays a foundation for 2028. If Democrats win the presidency in 2028, they may be able to build on those majorities—perhaps even reaching a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate—and have the kind of decisive control of Congress that they have had in major eras of reform like the 1930s and 1960s.
As a result, for the next two years, Democrats shouldn’t only be standing up to Donald Trump and investigating corruption. They should be laying the groundwork for reforms that they can take into the 2028 election as a national program, refining ideas, developing support for them, and even getting Trump to veto popular bills that will then be teed up for 2029.
Democrats should also use their power in Congress to work out differences among themselves. During the past two years, observers have suggested that Democrats suffered from an incapacitating division between progressives and moderates. This didn’t turn out to be a fatal problem in the midterms, and it doesn’t have to be in 2028. Just think about how much more serious the divisions were in the days when Democrats were split between Southern segregationists and Northern liberals, yet Democrats managed to win national elections in that environment.
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One way to build unity is to work out positions on health care, AI, energy, housing, and other issues that both progressives and moderates can run on in 2028. The Trump era has diverted the nation’s attention from its real problems. Now is the time for a great and serious debate about how to address those problems in ways that are both practically and politically effective.
Yesterday’s Democratic victories were significant for the future not only because of their scale but also because of their breadth. By overturning Republican power in what nearly everyone took to be entrenched red states, the election changed the political map.
Democratic victories in Texas look to be especially significant. It is difficult to see how the Republicans win the Electoral College without Texas. For the past 30 years, Texas has been the heart of right-wing economic and political power. Elon Musk and other California billionaires have been taking refuge there in the confidence that Texas would forever be under right-wing control.
So the elections of Sen.-elect James Talarico, Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, and other Democrats lower down on the ballot in Texas are an event of enormous consequence. The question that Democrats might now ask themselves about presidential candidates in 2028 is “Can this candidate win Texas?” Because a Democrat who can win Texas is a Democrat that Republicans will find nearly impossible to defeat.
Finally, this election sent a generational signal. The newly elected Democrats all around the country were predominantly in their forties. And young voters, even young men who had abandoned the party in 2024, came back to the Democrats by wide margins. Now Democrats have to come through for them. The future is open to a younger and more geographically diverse party if Democrats can make good on the opportunity the voters have given them.
