Takeaways From Election 2025

Keep Fighting

Nov 06, 2025

Yesterday’s elections produced important wins for Democrats across the country. We should feel encouraged and refreshed by the range, depth, and breadth of the wins. From Mississippi[i] to California,[ii] from school boards[iii] to Public Service Commissions,[iv] to ballot initiatives,[v] Democrats were fully “in array.” Organized, determined, and fed up,

And these wins came not a moment too soon. The brutality and fast pace of Trump’s destructive policies had begun to create an air of inevitability about his march towards full authoritarian rule. Conversations about resistance strategy had increasingly become reduced to a few rounds of desperate ranting ending with “but the Republicans in Congress won’t do anything,” or “but then it will end up at the Supreme Court and we know they will do,” or, “you think there will even be elections?”

But if the result of yesterday’s election tells us anything, it reminds us that we must reject this thinking. There is yet life kicking in this broken democracy. It is our job to coax the fragile remains of the systems of resistance still available to us into a force that can effectively fight Trumpism. I do not know if Trump’s march to full-on dictatorship can be stopped. But I am certain that if we stop fighting, it will not be stopped.

That is why although we should rightly feel gratified at the outcome of elections across the country yesterday, we must not let down our fight. In fact, having made a bold and aggressive statement with this election, we must press our advantage. Because this impressive Democratic electoral success comes just as cracks were already beginning to show in the MAGA infrastructure surrounding Trump. There are power struggles within Trump’s circle. Embarrassing incompetence, arrogant overreach, dissension in the ranks, and Trump’s own increasingly disconnected rambling, makes this a critical moment to lean in.

As exhausted and overwhelmed as we feel, we should remember that they likely feel the same. They have taken on the extraordinary project of destroying one of the most powerful nations in the world – a nation with a national government, fifty state governments, tens of thousands of cities and local governments, a Supreme Court, hundreds of federal trial and appellate courts, fifty state court systems, and tens of thousands of courts within those systems. And they are attempting to do this with a skeleton crew - well-trained in harsh rhetoric, insults, petulance, and cruelty -- but almost entirely inexperienced in running anything of substance.

They are destroying the apparatus of government because they know cannot manage it. The ranks of those with even marginal competence available to work at a high level in this Administration are severely diminished. This is why embarrassingly subpar attorneys like Lindsey Halligan and Alina Habba are put in charge of key U.S. attorneys’ offices to prosecute Trump’s enemies, where they and their assistants stumble through the choreography of litigation, garnering ever-increasing impatience from federal district court judges.[vi] The Trump administration fires thousands of workers, and then hires back those same workers as agency heads realize that they’ve left no one sufficiently competent to log on to manage critical functions.

Trump is deeply unpopular. His poll ratings remain underwater.[vii] He has even lost podcast king Joe Rogan.[viii] This does not mean that these constituencies are prepared to vote for Democrats. It does mean that Trump is losing his ability to marshal the kind of unshakeable support that so cowed Republicans into fear of the very people they represent. As SNAP benefits dry up in red states and rural areas, and MAGA constituents grow more economically desperate, expect more grumbling and anger from Trump’s base.

Farmers and small businesses have been devastated by Trump’s tariffs and are speaking out increasingly about their sense of betrayal.[ix] If you are a Republican President and the Chamber of Commerce is filing briefs in opposition to your trade policies,[x] you are probably out over your skis. And judging by the tenor of today’s oral argument in the case challenging Trump’s sweeping and irrational tariffs,[xi] Trump may find himself coming down that mountain faster than he anticipated.[xii]

Moreover, Trump is looking even more enfeebled than usual. He is mocked and sub-tweeted on the world stage by leaders who play to his vanity in the place of trying to negotiate with the erratic and unserious U.S. leader.

Yes, J.D. Vance is waiting in the wings. But as a graduate of the Peter Thiel School of Charm and Deportment, he has neither the charisma nor the people instincts needed to garner the kind of support that Trump has enjoyed. Vance’s attempt to take up the mantle of Charlie Kirk by courting the TPUSA folks is interesting. It will be dangerous if Kirk’s widow allies with him in a professional partnership. But Mrs. Kirk may well decide that she has more power without Vance than with him, given the continued distrust he garners among MAGA faithful.

Trump’s lack of vigor has forced the egos that surround him to the top. No longer satisfied with being the ghoul behind the scenes, Stephen Miller wants everyone to know that he is in charge and that the plans being advanced are his. That is why we are seeing and hearing him more frequently, as he pauses for interviews outside the White House as though he is the President, shows up on news programs with regularity and even dispatches his wife as a (very uninformed and ineffective) talking head.

But Miller is repulsive by any impartial standard. Watching him spew bile at endlessly increasing levels of manic zeal – has the effect of holding up a mirror to the worst of MAGA. It cannot be pleasant to look in the mirror when the image looking back at you is Stephen Miller.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a disaster. Twice now Trump has had to check Hegseth over his ill-judged overreach. First this Spring, Hegseth planned to provide Elon Musk with a classified briefing about China – without Trump’s knowledge. Trump reportedly was furious when he found out and scuttled the briefing.[xiii] That was also the beginning of the end of Trump’s love affair with Musk.

Then Hegseth’s October command performance before U.S. generals and admirals which Trump hastily decided that he too would attend,[xiv] was an unforced error. The conservative Washington Times published a report with quotes from high level military officials saying that Hegseth has “lost” the confidence (if he ever had it) of the Generals and Admirals.[xv] “Losing” the confidence of the top brass of the military is nothing to fool around with. Trump knows it.

The Supreme Court has handed Trump some big wins. And there are more likely to come. But even members of the Court must be feeling the pressure of association with the images we are all seeing every day of masked ICE agents patrolling suburbs while dressed for battle in Fallujah. Anil Kahlan’s brilliant coining of the term “Kavanaugh Stops,” [xvi] -branding the racial profiling and violent ICE attacks after the Supreme Court justice who (I suspect against the counsel of his conservative colleagues on the Court) defended and whitewashed them in an infamous shadow docket opinion in October,[xvii] - makes it clear to the justices that should they ultimately cover this conduct in constitutional protection, they will forever own the images and violence associated with it.

The key pressure point for us remains Congress. Trump’s power grab – overriding congressional appropriations, closing agencies, firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, blowing up boats in the Caribbean without evidence of threat, could not happen without the prostration of Congress – and especially that of the maddeningly underwhelming Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

The shutdown has starkly revealed the flaccid and feckless leadership of Speaker Johnson. So far, he has held his caucus together. But given the unpopularity of the shut-down, and now the Democrat’s run on yesterday’s elections, Republican members in the House will increasingly bring pressure on Johnson to put the interests of the caucus ahead of Trump’s.

It cannot be good that Johnson now knows that behind closed doors Trump has been mocking Johnson’s malleability. Being called a “puppet” by the President,[xviii] who has also claimed your job title (Trump: “I’m the Speaker”[xix]) must rattle even the damaged and Lilliputian ego of Mike Johnson. And surely the devastating compilation videos of the man who purports to lead the U.S. House of Representatives repeating over and over again when confronted by questions about the state of the shutdown or about the President’s leadership repeats “I haven’t seen that” and “I never heard that” has to kindle a measure of resentment in Johnson, who after all hasn’t been given permission by Trump to substantively answer these questions.

And this is why it is important that now we focus more of our attention on Congress. We have little hope of influencing the other two branches of our government. But Congress remains the place where we have representatives who in our constitutional order have the power to check Trump’s excesses. And as I have often said, the abiding obsession of Republican House members is keeping their jobs. Yesterday’s election was a wake-up call. Next year every seat in the House is on the ballot. No matter what they say before the cameras today, Republicans in the House are seeing the writing on the wall this week and they are feeling queasy. We should be prepared to challenge Republican incumbents. Show up and out at town halls. Democrats living in Republican districts should apply pressure to their Republican representatives.

The refusal of the Speaker to swear in a duly elected Democratic member of the House is an issue that should rally Democrats across the country. Every one of us should be writing, calling and protesting Johnson’s actions. Keep after Speaker Johnson until he feels the pressure.

Everyday people who believe in decency and democracy have grown bolder and more engaged. Millions participated in the “No Kings” rally in October.[xx] Ordinary Chicagoans have been giving ICE a run for its money protesting, filming unconstitutional stops, shouting down, and denigrating masked officers who assault and kidnap residents off the streets for detention. That resistance has gotten so far under the thin skin of Stephen Miller that he has unleashed a shake-up at DHS.

Oppression inevitably creates heroes, and we are witnessing that in real time. We see it in the grassroots groups in Chicago and Portland who are protesting (often quite creatively in Portland), and even more powerfully in the ordinary Americans who attempt to protect their neighbors from violent ICE kidnapping. We see it in the coterie of faith leaders who are lifting their voices,[xxi] and even standing in the line of fire outside ICE detention facilities.[xxii] We see it in the bold independent media outlets, from L.A. Taco to Tribe that have become essential sources of real time news about ICE raids and assaults. We see it in a new and vigorous coterie of Democratic leaders like Chicago Mayor Brandon Jacobs, in Governors like Gavin Newson, J.D. Pritzker and Wes Moore, and in Mayors like Michelle Wu (Boston) and Brandon Scott (Baltimore), and the new Mayor-elect of New York, Zohran Mamdani.

Yesterday’s election outcomes provided some critical lessons for Democratic leadership and donors. The Party’s base is not an optional constituency. Black women continue to power Democratic wins around the country. Democrats who stand by their convictions and the constituencies in our “big tent” do better that those who run on being “Republican-light” and who sacrifice inclusion to chase the white whale of “centrist voters.” The wins came in California and in New York City, but also in Bucks County, Pennsylvania,[xxiii] Mississippi,[xxiv] and Cincinnati, Ohio.[xxv]

None of this guarantees that we will be saved from the abyss. But these are all encouraging signs that the fight is not finished. In the words of Yogi Berra, “it’s not over ‘til it’s over.” And even then, we fight.

We need to keep the pressure on. Protesting, boycotting, speaking out, recording unconstitutional stops, protecting our neighbors, demanding that our leaders stand strong and not blink. Yesterday’s impressive electoral wins by Democrats will encourage more recklessness from Trump and Republicans. But I am betting that some Republicans in the House will now hesitate before obeying Trump’s every command lockstep if they believe that their seats may be at risk in 2026.

One other point. Remember that this period is often when lame duck Republican state legislatures, school boards, Mayors, and City Councils get up to mischief, passing bills and creating new rules that will limit the power of their successors. Monitor the work of your local officials closely over the next few months, especially in places where Democratic voters have successfully flipped control with yesterday’s election. There will be some outgoing elected officials who will attempt to make their mark as they head for the door, leaving some offices with diminished powers, or passing harmful ordinances and rules.

Like you, I am heartened by the outcome of this week’s elections. But I understand that we still remain in deep peril as a nation. So let us all stay vigilant and on offense and demand the same of our leaders. We have flexed our muscles. We have demonstrated resilience and determination, and that’s good. Because this battle is far from over.

[i] https://www.mississippifreepress.org/mississippi-special-election-results-democrats-flip-3-legislative-seats/

[ii] https://apnews.com/article/california-redistricting-prop-50-gavin-newsom-839193bfc2a817086acca7365315f26f

[iii] https://www.newsweek.com/democrat-backed-candidates-flip-3-texas-school-board-seats-10999063

[iv] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/us/georgia-election-utility-board-results.html

[v] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maine-voters-defeat-voter-id-ballot-initiative-approve-red-flag-gun-restrictions

[vi] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/05/justice-department-prosecution-james-comey/

[vii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/10/29/trump-approval-rating-hits-second-term-low-in-latest-poll-despite-his-claims-of-highest-numbers-ever/

[viii]https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-declares-disagreement-donald-trumph-nut-10898874

[ix] https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/23/economy/trump-argentina-beef-deal-farmer-impact

[x] https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-1287/380604/20251024160303037_2025-10-24%20SCt%20No.%2025-250%20Chamber%20Amici%20brief.pdf

[xi] https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/11/court-appears-dubious-of-trumps-tariffs/

[xii] https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2025/24-1287