Trying to stay within the bounds of fair use here, but three of the “Key Findings” they list are:
“While swing voters could still be persuaded to vote for either party, they currently favor a Democratic candidate for Congress over a Republican candidate by a 12-point margin (with 46% undecided).
“Swing voters do not differ demographically from likely voters overall — unlike in 2024, when swing voters were significantly younger and more diverse.”
And the money shot:
“The top policies that would move swing voters to Democrats are raising taxes on the wealthy, establishing a Medicare for All health care system, and banning AI from setting prices or wages based on personal data.”
Frankly the idea that “swing voters” even still exist beggars the imagination, but I suppose we should find that encouraging.
Thomas, don't worry about the DSA taking over the party in NC. Roy Cooper is going to win and will be the defacto leader of the NC Dems because the GOP has de-fanged Governor Stein, who is about as far from being radical as we are from a snowball fight in July. I trust that the voters of Maine, Colorado, Michigan, et. al. know what's best for them.
As a member of the traveling press, I saw first hand the press lynching of Howard Dean in 2004. The DC pundits couldn't stand his audacious, progressive politics and skewered him every chance they got in favor of one of their own, John Kerry. (Here's some trivia - the famous "Howl" of Dean's at a political rally that was "proof" of him being unhinged was because they isolated his mic, leaving out the loud crowd cheering him on. That particular mic is the same one we use for hurricane stand-ups. If they had included the crowd mic, Dean would have sounded perfectly normal).
Graham Platner is getting the exact same treatment as Dean. I see the pattern.
What you missed is that after Biden/Harris, voters have had enough of Boomers. They want them off the stage, out of the way, and so does this Boomer. I think on-air Boomers covering politics are going to follow Andrea Mitchell, soon as well. The generational shift is happening. This is an oversimplification of a much more nuanced political landscape, but a point I just wanted to add, here.
As we experience the ruination of our way of life via the culmination of the Reagan Revolution, a backlash against the Progressive Party of the 1910s, the New Deal of the 1930s, and the granting of human rights to Black people and women in the 1960s, it’s shocking how well the movement has accomplished its mission.
With no apparent embarrassment, reasonable people now equate three or four “democratic socialist” candidates with a Republican Party providing life-support to a movement that wants to replace our democratic republic with a competitive authoritarian state controlled by oligarchs. Are they just opposite sides of a coin, one side wants a stable social safety net and the other side wants to throw out the Constitution and put Elon Musk in charge?
Take the time to watch the Netflix documentaries on presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, then come back and tell me about the “far left.”
Pretty bad mis-read of who shows up at election time. Harris was milquetoast and look what happened? She got beat by a reactionary and Democrats lost Congress because youth turnout was meh. The moderate middle didn’t elect Trump, Biden, or Trump 2, or Obama. And at this moment there is no economic middle ground. For anyone to feel any economic improvement in even six months after midterms, Drastic measures will be needed. And if Democrats get the House, they will try to prevent anything from improving so they can blame Vance and capture the Senate and Whitehouse. January 2029 with the House, Senate, and President? Bye bye filibuster, hello codify Roe v Wade, universal single payer, 13 SCOTUS JUSTICES, gay marriage, and Puerto Rico statehood.
It’s inaccurate to characterize the DSA as “dominant” in the Northeast. I know New York, so will only speak to that. Out of 26 Congress members, only 1 is DSA (and 3 candidates). Out of 12.5 million registered voters, fewer than 20,000 are DSA. Untwist those knickers.
I disagree that Democratic Socialism is the anchor for "far left"...that would be communism. Democratic socialists support democracy, not gerrymandering nor autocracy (ergo "democratic"); and are pro-capitalist, but not pro-oligarchs (ergo "socialist"). They are also not pro-communist (no matter what Fox would like us to believe). So at the core, they are also centrists, albeit center left, not extremists.
All of the old school Dems aren’t truly centrists. They’re center-right.
People are tired of the status quo that establishment Dems keep trying to shove down our throats. All those people who “fear” everything will get no where with the status quo that was in place even before trump. Young people aren’t scared of being center-left which is what the DSA mostly is.
Well, as a left-leaning registered independent, I am beyond disgusted with the Democratic establishment's complete inability to meet this dire moment in our nation's history. (And by "establishment," I mean both the politicians and the pundits.)
Feckless appeasers like Schumer and Jefferies are emblematic of the inability and/or unwillingness of the party to counter our precipitous autocratic slide, and they appear wholly disinterested in protecting our democracy from the right wing extremism that has infected our institutions of government.
They (the establishment) are political creatures of a different time. A time when at least a modicum of civility and decorum and good faith bipartisan cooperation still existed. But those days are long gone. Not only is it pointless to try to find common cause with the aspiring fascists, I'd argue that it's actually counterproductive if not outright complicit, yet we continue to hear the same tired rhetoric. No, dammit. Stop bringing strongly worded letters to a knife-fight.
The establishment Dems are tone-deaf to the concerns of the Democratic base and to the drastic changes in our political landscape since the 20th century (including rampant corruption, absurd wealth inequality, secret police terrorizing our communities, and the destruction of our government institutions).
Moreover, they are completely beholden to their corporate benefactors (including AI and Crypto), and maintain unwavering loyalty to AIPAC/Israel in the face of a 21st Century holocaust. It's not rocket-surgery, a majority of Americans strongly oppose genocide. ...Strongly oppose ICE and its concentration camps, AI data centers, reckless and unlawful use of our military, and brazen political corruption. These are not "Democratic Socialist issues," these are widely-held concerns about the accelerating erosion of the values and promise of this nation.
Establishment politicians and pundits would be wise to stop worshipping highly paid beltway consulting firms (and their focus group tested platitudes), and start listening to their constituents' concerns.
They need to stop fighting the Democratic base harder than they are fighting actual fascists. If Jeffries and Schumer (and many others) fought Chump (and Thune and Johnson) as hard as they are fighting Mamdani and the next generation of leaders in their own party, we might have actually stopped some of the madness and corruption we have endured from this regime.
But, once again, I fear that the establishment Dems are poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory... like they've done time and time again. It's pathetic and exhausting.
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. The law that’s true in physics is also true in politics. MAGA pulled the established Republican Party so far to the right as to make it unrecognizable. It has been a 50 year project for the powers that be to do it too. The states where establishment candidates are showing up are either former red states or states that have been gerrymandered red. The Democratic Socialist movement has gained strength in New York, a reliably blue state, where the old “established liberal”policies have massively failed for people so they are then quite willing to try something new. Ultimately, IMO, the pendulum will swing back toward the left which the Democratic Socialist movement will help, but will inevitably end up back more center. Whether we see a right or left tilt will all depend on how badly MAGA, trump and the supreme court have damaged the underpinnings of our Constitution and rule of law. Recovery will take both time and patience. I hope collectively we can muster up enough patience to work through all that will need repairing. The solid middle class that has acted as a buffer between a two tiered society has been severely hollowed out which makes the possibility of a sizable social upheaval a distinct possibility now. As I said in an earlier comment, buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
There is no going back to the status quo. I think Democrats are better positioned because we typically believe that government can help people live their lives in peace, freedom and dignity. I keep going back to FDR's 4 Freedoms. That should be the blueprint for moving forward. If we shrug this off and don't demand accountability and change, MAGA will come roaring back. The Republican Party has come to the end of the road, after over 40 years of accumulating power and bankrupting the country. This is a golden opportunity for Democrats to step forward and lead the nation into a new era. Backbiting and fighting isn't going to cut it. Nothing regarding politics in our country will ever be the same. That might be a good thing.
While I agree with you that most people do not think through the details of policy and often vote hemostatically the fact is that winning elections is about getting the capacity to actually enact policy. What DSA candidates like Mandami are offering voters is a promise to actually make changes that will cut their costs or address the problems that they face. This, I think, is why they are really doing well.
Consider that Harris stated that she would lower costs but never explained what she would do differently to make it happen. Or consider how many years Democrats have campaigned on raising the minimum wage or lowering drug prices but never done so. Indeed when they finally did enact drug price negotiation (which polled quite well) they did so in a way that was limited, delayed, and so carefully tailored that most voters are unaware of what they did.
I agree that people often react negatively to policies and often vote the actors out. But over the long term such actions still have major effects. Despite losing handily Newt Gingrich still made radical changes to congress that are being felt today and which made Trump's power possible. Despite public dissatisfaction with the Democrats Obamacare still remains.
Ultimately if the only going advice for Democrats is to not make waves then they will still face losses down the road but with zero accomplishments. At least by trying to make and keep a plan they can produce real substantive change.
Thomas thank you for writing this commentary. Your insights are always accurate which is why this former newspaper reporter who covered government and politics and current election official (15 years) susscribes
You decide how to interpret this one, but:
https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2026/7/9/midterms-swing-voter-report-1
Trying to stay within the bounds of fair use here, but three of the “Key Findings” they list are:
“While swing voters could still be persuaded to vote for either party, they currently favor a Democratic candidate for Congress over a Republican candidate by a 12-point margin (with 46% undecided).
“Swing voters do not differ demographically from likely voters overall — unlike in 2024, when swing voters were significantly younger and more diverse.”
And the money shot:
“The top policies that would move swing voters to Democrats are raising taxes on the wealthy, establishing a Medicare for All health care system, and banning AI from setting prices or wages based on personal data.”
Frankly the idea that “swing voters” even still exist beggars the imagination, but I suppose we should find that encouraging.
Thomas, don't worry about the DSA taking over the party in NC. Roy Cooper is going to win and will be the defacto leader of the NC Dems because the GOP has de-fanged Governor Stein, who is about as far from being radical as we are from a snowball fight in July. I trust that the voters of Maine, Colorado, Michigan, et. al. know what's best for them.
As a member of the traveling press, I saw first hand the press lynching of Howard Dean in 2004. The DC pundits couldn't stand his audacious, progressive politics and skewered him every chance they got in favor of one of their own, John Kerry. (Here's some trivia - the famous "Howl" of Dean's at a political rally that was "proof" of him being unhinged was because they isolated his mic, leaving out the loud crowd cheering him on. That particular mic is the same one we use for hurricane stand-ups. If they had included the crowd mic, Dean would have sounded perfectly normal).
Graham Platner is getting the exact same treatment as Dean. I see the pattern.
What you missed is that after Biden/Harris, voters have had enough of Boomers. They want them off the stage, out of the way, and so does this Boomer. I think on-air Boomers covering politics are going to follow Andrea Mitchell, soon as well. The generational shift is happening. This is an oversimplification of a much more nuanced political landscape, but a point I just wanted to add, here.
"The DSA has become a force in Democratic Party politics even as it has grown more hostile to the party, more illiberal, and more dogmatic."
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/07/dsa-communist-socialist-democrats/687756/?gift=oiNPR0mZV_lHtBNrUmex2V8LZICYinx6jrxQWX_K_WM
The DSA is the secret weapon of the GOP.
Even self‑identified centrists within the Democratic coalition favored populist messaging by a 95–5 margin.
Voters who dislike both parties (“double‑haters”) were also more responsive to populist themes.
In Southern battlegrounds, Democratic voters showed significantly higher motivation than Republicans (72% vs. 34%).
Taken together, the data indicates that centrism is not the driving force in Southern politics at the moment.
As we experience the ruination of our way of life via the culmination of the Reagan Revolution, a backlash against the Progressive Party of the 1910s, the New Deal of the 1930s, and the granting of human rights to Black people and women in the 1960s, it’s shocking how well the movement has accomplished its mission.
With no apparent embarrassment, reasonable people now equate three or four “democratic socialist” candidates with a Republican Party providing life-support to a movement that wants to replace our democratic republic with a competitive authoritarian state controlled by oligarchs. Are they just opposite sides of a coin, one side wants a stable social safety net and the other side wants to throw out the Constitution and put Elon Musk in charge?
Take the time to watch the Netflix documentaries on presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, then come back and tell me about the “far left.”
It's messy. AOC has figured out how to be a progressive Democrat who can build a coalition of sorts, as has Sanders. The overtly DSA candidates show no such skill. DAC in New York wants to abolish the police ... and prisons. DSA member Kiros, who may beat progressive Diana DeGette in CD1, has refused to call last years firebombing at a Jewish rally antisemitic. (https://coloradosun.com/2026/06/27/melat-kiros-boulder-firebombing-comments/?member=&tier=&format=lg&element=more&block=7&total=17&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=High%20winds%20fuel%20fires%20that%20killed%20three%20federal%20firefighters&utm_campaign=The%20Sunriser%20-%206%2F29%2F26)
This year's crop of DSA candidates are the Democrats' Tea Party, and they'll trash the Democratic Party, too.
We are Democrats. We can fuck up a wet dream.
Pretty bad mis-read of who shows up at election time. Harris was milquetoast and look what happened? She got beat by a reactionary and Democrats lost Congress because youth turnout was meh. The moderate middle didn’t elect Trump, Biden, or Trump 2, or Obama. And at this moment there is no economic middle ground. For anyone to feel any economic improvement in even six months after midterms, Drastic measures will be needed. And if Democrats get the House, they will try to prevent anything from improving so they can blame Vance and capture the Senate and Whitehouse. January 2029 with the House, Senate, and President? Bye bye filibuster, hello codify Roe v Wade, universal single payer, 13 SCOTUS JUSTICES, gay marriage, and Puerto Rico statehood.
If the Dems get the house and do all that??? Don’t threaten me with such a good time
That is far from the only reason. “…Kamala is for they them” was also a factor.
Kamala got beat for one reason, and one reason alone. America chose the 400 year old white patriarchy over democracy.
It’s inaccurate to characterize the DSA as “dominant” in the Northeast. I know New York, so will only speak to that. Out of 26 Congress members, only 1 is DSA (and 3 candidates). Out of 12.5 million registered voters, fewer than 20,000 are DSA. Untwist those knickers.
I disagree that Democratic Socialism is the anchor for "far left"...that would be communism. Democratic socialists support democracy, not gerrymandering nor autocracy (ergo "democratic"); and are pro-capitalist, but not pro-oligarchs (ergo "socialist"). They are also not pro-communist (no matter what Fox would like us to believe). So at the core, they are also centrists, albeit center left, not extremists.
All of the old school Dems aren’t truly centrists. They’re center-right.
People are tired of the status quo that establishment Dems keep trying to shove down our throats. All those people who “fear” everything will get no where with the status quo that was in place even before trump. Young people aren’t scared of being center-left which is what the DSA mostly is.
Well, as a left-leaning registered independent, I am beyond disgusted with the Democratic establishment's complete inability to meet this dire moment in our nation's history. (And by "establishment," I mean both the politicians and the pundits.)
Feckless appeasers like Schumer and Jefferies are emblematic of the inability and/or unwillingness of the party to counter our precipitous autocratic slide, and they appear wholly disinterested in protecting our democracy from the right wing extremism that has infected our institutions of government.
They (the establishment) are political creatures of a different time. A time when at least a modicum of civility and decorum and good faith bipartisan cooperation still existed. But those days are long gone. Not only is it pointless to try to find common cause with the aspiring fascists, I'd argue that it's actually counterproductive if not outright complicit, yet we continue to hear the same tired rhetoric. No, dammit. Stop bringing strongly worded letters to a knife-fight.
The establishment Dems are tone-deaf to the concerns of the Democratic base and to the drastic changes in our political landscape since the 20th century (including rampant corruption, absurd wealth inequality, secret police terrorizing our communities, and the destruction of our government institutions).
Moreover, they are completely beholden to their corporate benefactors (including AI and Crypto), and maintain unwavering loyalty to AIPAC/Israel in the face of a 21st Century holocaust. It's not rocket-surgery, a majority of Americans strongly oppose genocide. ...Strongly oppose ICE and its concentration camps, AI data centers, reckless and unlawful use of our military, and brazen political corruption. These are not "Democratic Socialist issues," these are widely-held concerns about the accelerating erosion of the values and promise of this nation.
Establishment politicians and pundits would be wise to stop worshipping highly paid beltway consulting firms (and their focus group tested platitudes), and start listening to their constituents' concerns.
They need to stop fighting the Democratic base harder than they are fighting actual fascists. If Jeffries and Schumer (and many others) fought Chump (and Thune and Johnson) as hard as they are fighting Mamdani and the next generation of leaders in their own party, we might have actually stopped some of the madness and corruption we have endured from this regime.
But, once again, I fear that the establishment Dems are poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory... like they've done time and time again. It's pathetic and exhausting.
100%!
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. The law that’s true in physics is also true in politics. MAGA pulled the established Republican Party so far to the right as to make it unrecognizable. It has been a 50 year project for the powers that be to do it too. The states where establishment candidates are showing up are either former red states or states that have been gerrymandered red. The Democratic Socialist movement has gained strength in New York, a reliably blue state, where the old “established liberal”policies have massively failed for people so they are then quite willing to try something new. Ultimately, IMO, the pendulum will swing back toward the left which the Democratic Socialist movement will help, but will inevitably end up back more center. Whether we see a right or left tilt will all depend on how badly MAGA, trump and the supreme court have damaged the underpinnings of our Constitution and rule of law. Recovery will take both time and patience. I hope collectively we can muster up enough patience to work through all that will need repairing. The solid middle class that has acted as a buffer between a two tiered society has been severely hollowed out which makes the possibility of a sizable social upheaval a distinct possibility now. As I said in an earlier comment, buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
There is no going back to the status quo. I think Democrats are better positioned because we typically believe that government can help people live their lives in peace, freedom and dignity. I keep going back to FDR's 4 Freedoms. That should be the blueprint for moving forward. If we shrug this off and don't demand accountability and change, MAGA will come roaring back. The Republican Party has come to the end of the road, after over 40 years of accumulating power and bankrupting the country. This is a golden opportunity for Democrats to step forward and lead the nation into a new era. Backbiting and fighting isn't going to cut it. Nothing regarding politics in our country will ever be the same. That might be a good thing.
What do you win elections for?
While I agree with you that most people do not think through the details of policy and often vote hemostatically the fact is that winning elections is about getting the capacity to actually enact policy. What DSA candidates like Mandami are offering voters is a promise to actually make changes that will cut their costs or address the problems that they face. This, I think, is why they are really doing well.
Consider that Harris stated that she would lower costs but never explained what she would do differently to make it happen. Or consider how many years Democrats have campaigned on raising the minimum wage or lowering drug prices but never done so. Indeed when they finally did enact drug price negotiation (which polled quite well) they did so in a way that was limited, delayed, and so carefully tailored that most voters are unaware of what they did.
I agree that people often react negatively to policies and often vote the actors out. But over the long term such actions still have major effects. Despite losing handily Newt Gingrich still made radical changes to congress that are being felt today and which made Trump's power possible. Despite public dissatisfaction with the Democrats Obamacare still remains.
Ultimately if the only going advice for Democrats is to not make waves then they will still face losses down the road but with zero accomplishments. At least by trying to make and keep a plan they can produce real substantive change.
Thomas thank you for writing this commentary. Your insights are always accurate which is why this former newspaper reporter who covered government and politics and current election official (15 years) susscribes