Welcome to the online edition of From the Politics Desk, our evening newsletter that brings you the latest reporting and analysis from the NBC News political team from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, political reporter Alexandra Marquez brings you a message from the Democratic Governors Association’s annual meeting. The annual meeting was filled with concerns and ideas for how the party’s state leaders would approach future elections. We also dig into the Senate calculations and what it means for most 2006 Democrats to decline or lose their seats.
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Democratic governors hope to change the tone of their party in the second Trump administration
Alexandra Marquez
Democrats are still reeling and reflecting on what went so wrong for their party this year. But at the annual convention of Democratic governors in California, they said that in order to make a serious dent in the White House in 2028, their party, and preferably one of them, must, in their eyes, They completely agreed that something needed to change.
“We can wait until later to worry about who we run for president (in 2028) or fine-tuning policy,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told NBC News, adding that Democrats should now worry about who they run for president or tweaking policy. However, he added, “We need to lay the foundation, build the infrastructure, and elect the Democratic National Committee.” The Chairman is committed to doing just that. ”
And Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear is redefining the Democratic Party as he launches a relaunch of the party that will address key issues like inflation, health care, infrastructure, transportation, education, and focus on improving the everyday lives of voters. warned of serious obstacles to its ambitions. : President-elect Donald Trump.
Beshear said that during the last Trump administration, people “focused too much on President Trump and what was going on in Washington, D.C., and not enough on (Democratic) priorities.”
“Don’t fall into this us-versus-them mentality,” he said. “That’s not a winning strategy.”
At other levels of the party, including some “resistance” activist groups that rose to prominence during President Trump’s first term, Democrats are already saying that they cannot respond to President Trump in the same way they did eight years ago. There is widespread agreement.
But after Mr. Trump’s election, some prominent governors whose names coincidentally have been mentioned as presidential candidates quickly pivoted to setting up their states as bulwarks against Trumpism. California Governor Gavin Newsom called a special legislative session and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker spoke about how to “strengthen” his state against President Trump.
Other purple and red states have taken a less aggressive stance. At a meeting of the Democratic Governors Association, Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who shares a red state with Beshear, said she would look for opportunities to work with Trump on areas that would benefit voters.
Read more →
The Democratic Party’s famous 2006 senators have all but disappeared. Here’s why it’s important:
Written by Mark Murray
The prominent Democratic senatorial class of 2006 (six Senate Democrats who flipped Republican-held seats in the midterm cycle) has emboldened the Democratic majority over the past 20 years and over the next 15 years. He helped pass the party’s legislative accomplishments over the years, including some Democratic members. The biggest performers in elections in the most difficult states.
Now, after the 2024 election, only one of the six senators will remain in the Senate next year: Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
This population decline tells an important story about the geography of American politics over the past two decades, and highlights the difficult path Democrats will take to regain control of the Senate majority after their November loss.
The first member of Congress in 2006 was Jim Webb of Virginia, who decided not to seek re-election in 2012, but the seat remained in the hands of Democrat Tim Kaine. Ta.
The next candidate to be elected was Missouri’s Claire McCaskill, who won re-election in 2012 but lost six years later in 2018.
And in 2024, three more members of that vaunted class lost as Donald Trump took over the state: Jon Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Brown of Pennsylvania. It’s Casey.
Senate Democrats began the 21st century with victories in states such as Missouri, Montana, and Ohio. (Just as importantly, Republicans held Senate seats in states like Rhode Island and Virginia.) Now? It seems unfathomable how Democrats could win statewide federal elections in these three states, let alone West Virginia and North Dakota.
And that reality underscores the challenge for Democrats to take back the Senate in 2026 or 2028 and beyond. After the recent election, the party controls all but one state Senate seat held by Kamala Harris. (The only outlier is Susan Collins of Maine.) Democrats also hold 10 of the 14 Senate seats in seven key presidential battleground states.
However, it still only has 47 seats in the Senate. Even if he defeats Collins and flips four Senate seats in battleground states (two in North Carolina, one in Wisconsin, and one in Pennsylvania) and retains the remaining seats, his total would be up to 52 seats. . If Democrats want more than that, they will need it. To figure out how to win again in places like Missouri, Ohio, and other now definitely red states.
There’s another important story about the Democratic Party in 2006. At the beginning of that election cycle, few observers thought Democrats could flip more than two seats in the Senate, let alone six.
But the unpopularity of the Iraq war and the George W. Bush administration expanded the Senate battleground far beyond what was initially expected.
This is a reminder that political maps won’t last forever. It’s always changing.
🗞️ Today’s Top News
🐘 See you later on the RNC: President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump is a co-chair of the Republican National Committee amid growing speculation that she might be chosen to fill the upcoming Senate vacancy announced that he would resign as chief. And the RNC’s treasurer announced he would run to replace her. Continue reading →⚫ Threats to Congress: Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan says she and her family have been targeted with bomb threats and local police are working with U.S. Capitol Police to investigate said. Continue reading →⚖ Court Watch: Supreme Court avoids new controversy over race in education by refusing to consider whether Boston’s public high school admissions program illegally takes race into account . Continue reading →✅❎ FACT CHECK: Here’s a fact check of President Trump’s wide-ranging interview on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” Continue reading →🏨 He’s a businessman, a businessman. Trump will return to the White House next year with a business empire even bigger than in his first term, but he and his team The details of how or whether to do so have not been disclosed. —He plans to separate his business interests from his job as president. Continue reading → Solemn monument: President Joe Biden announced plans to build a monument in Pennsylvania marking the federal government’s oppression of thousands of Native American children in residential schools. Read more →
That’s all from the political desk. If you have any feedback, love it or hate it, email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com.
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