Mandatory Election Post-Mortem

Sitting in airport/travel hell (didn’t make it home last night and dealing with the travel hangover today as I try to get home), so a day (or three) late and a dollar short, and based on my experience as a candidate, here is my view on Tuesday’s election dynamics/results. Apologies in advance for the longish post.

All Politics is Local. Tip O’Neill made that phrase famous, but in my view, it still generally holds true. Mamdani ran on affordability in NYC (despite all the hubbub about Israel, people understood that the Mayor of NY doesn’t set foreign policy), Sherrill highlighted climate change in New Jersey and Spanberger ran as a centrist moderate on jobs/govt in federally job-rich Virginia. Three very different candidates with very different messages which probably would not have worked in each other’s districts, but did the job where it mattered most - their respective districts.

Authenticity Matters. I’ve seen it up close as a candidate. Even woefully ignorant voters can smell inauthenticity. Erstwhile MAGA but now Democrat Joe Walsh put it bluntly😀

Remember my “Circle of Trust”? Being authentic (I called it “HOT - honest, open, and transparent” when I ran) is the best way I know to get inside each voter’s Circle of Trust. If we accomplish that, we can’t be stopped.

Turnout (and young people) matters. More people voted in California with Prop 50 on the ballot (redistricting) in this off-year election than voted in the 2022 midterms. Oh, yeah, and young women carried the day:

Candidates Matter. Sure, elections are ultimately about getting good policy put into law and effect. However, as I repeat ad nauseum, “policy is politics”. We need good candidates to connect with voters - policy will follow. Mamadani, Spanberger and Sherrill were all good in their own way, even with some significant policy differences. Let’s find good people in your local areas to run. In my experience, the most difficult part about running was making the initial decision to jump in. Once you’re in, it’s just a matter of running the race you want and implementing a plan. Easy, right?

People are Decent (but they need to be informed). Corollary: fascism, weaponizing hunger and healthcare doesn’t sell well). Two things are clear to me: 1) Trump and his cowardly Republican sycophants have overstepped with the East Wing demolition, ICE overkill (I mean, literally), denying SNAP funding and the shutdown, and 2) yeah - there are a lot of MAGA d**chebags out there, but most people are fundamentally decent and don’t want permanent divisiveness. The issue all along has been informing voters about all of this. My view is while the East Wing demolition may be the least important/impactful of these issues, it actually is one that broke through the ignorance wall - we need to use issues like that as a wedge to engage and inform voters on other, more impactful policy.

Having a Spine Matters. For too long, Dems were afraid to stand up for the policies they supported (Obamacare, anyone). Dems holding out for healthcare turned the tables (Trump expected Dems to cave in 10 days). We need to not be afraid to promote them and firmly stand by them when attacked. Our policies are popular!

There is sooo much more but I’ll stop there. One last thing - our biggest challenge is to maintain the enthusiasm from non-regular voters and young people. I believe all of the items listed above will help do that. On to 2026…