Democrats' largest majority in decades leaves party's future fight unresolved

Progressives and moderates both won major races as 2028 positioning begins

Democrats won their largest congressional majority in decades in Tuesday’s midterm elections, but the scale of the victory did little to settle the party’s long-running argument over what it stands for. The winners spanned the ideological spectrum, from establishment veterans to political outsiders, leaving each faction of the party with evidence for its own case.

Progressives achieved breakthrough victories in Senate races in Michigan and Maine, along with wins in competitive House contests. More moderate Democrats scored upsets in Republican strongholds such as Kansas and South Carolina while flipping North Carolina and holding Georgia. The results gave competing wings reason to believe their approach was the right one, potentially deepening the debate over how Democrats should govern their new majorities and position themselves for the 2028 presidential election.

“Midterm elections are primarily a referendum on the party in power,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a progressive Maryland Democrat, told The Associated Press. “But we should be clear that that doesn’t translate automatically into support for Democrats. We need to earn the support of voters.”

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed won a Senate seat in convincing fashion in one of the nation’s premier swing states after running a campaign built largely against the Democratic establishment. El-Sayed was backed early by Sen. Bernie Sanders and joined late on the campaign trail by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. His primary opponent was backed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, and El-Sayed was significantly outspent in both the primary and the general election.

In Maine, progressive Troy Jackson defeated longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins after entering the race late. Other progressives won battleground House races, including Michigan’s Will Lawrence and California’s Randy Villegas, who each also won tough Democratic primaries.

Both El-Sayed and Villegas told The Associated Press they do not intend to stand down once they reach Washington. “I intend to be the kind of senator I have been as a candidate. To go and force the conversation about who we are and who we want to be,” El-Sayed said. Villegas noted that progressives “had to beat our own party,” saying the win shows that “when I get to Congress, I am not going there to do the bidding of any political party or leader.”

Moderate Democrats scored big victories as well, particularly in swing-state governor’s races. David Crowley defeated Republican Tom Tiffany by about 8 percentage points in Wisconsin, while Jocelyn Benson won Michigan’s governor’s race by nearly 11 points — almost four points more than El-Sayed’s margin of victory. The AP Voter Poll found moderates made up a larger share of Democrats’ winning coalition than in recent elections: about half of voters who backed Democratic House candidates identified as moderates, compared with roughly 4 in 10 in the 2024, 2022 and 2018 elections, and moderates made up about half of the winning candidates’ voters in key Senate races that flipped for Democrats, including Kansas, Iowa and North Carolina.

The poll also pointed to an ideological divide inside the coalition. About one-third of voters who backed Democratic candidates identified as democratic socialists, including just under half of those ages 18 to 29, compared with about one-quarter of voters ages 65 and older.

Rahm Emanuel, the former congressman and White House chief of staff who is openly considering a 2028 presidential bid, argued Democrats should pay particular attention to the candidates who flipped Republican-held seats. “The people that flip red to blue, they’re the majority makers,” Emanuel said in an interview. “So you better be paying attention to them.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and Schumer both secured the majorities they sought, but those victories leave them leading ideologically diverse caucuses that include members who campaigned against their leadership. Both are expected to win another term as leader, and the surrounding debate has already begun. “My view is we need to have a full and honest discussion,” Van Hollen said, adding that whoever runs for leader should be able to lay out “a clear vision about how we’re going to use this power.” El-Sayed declined to commit, saying he would wait to see “what the options look like,” and added, “we need new leadership.”

Even with control of both chambers, Democrats will face limits on their power. Trump retains veto authority, which he has already threatened to use, while Democrats will gain broad oversight and subpoena powers. Congressional leaders must also reconcile demands from an expanded progressive wing with those of the more moderate New Democrat Coalition and the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition. Asked Wednesday about calls from the left to advance Medicare for All, Jeffries instead pointed to areas of agreement: “What I think we all support — progressives, New Dems and Blue Dogs — is to move forward aggressively to reverse the Medicaid cuts and to move forward aggressively to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”

Incoming Rep. Christina Bohannan, who defeated Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in a competitive House district, said Wednesday she is pleased that most Democrats joining the new House majority are focused on lowering costs rather than “political games.” As long as members stay focused on affordability, “we’re going to get along great,” she said. “People in districts like mine that are very mixed politically — they are so tired of the politics as usual,” Bohannan said.

The fight over 2028 has effectively begun. Even before Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi had been decided, potential presidential contenders were holding calls with reporters to outline their visions for the party’s future — or, in the case of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, heading to Washington to make their case. Pritzker is scheduled to speak Thursday at the Center for American Progress, a day after unveiling a 200-point policy agenda for the incoming Democratic Congress that calls for reversing Trump administration policies and expanding access to health care.

California Rep. Ro Khanna, who said he would spend the holidays considering his own presidential ambitions, said the argument should be joined openly: “I think that debate will play out in 2028, and there should be an ideological brawl.” Van Hollen said he is “kicking the tires” on a run and argued the election revealed a “desire to unite behind a more populist agenda.”

“This debate that is kicking off with these elections about the future of the Democratic Party will determine whether Democrats are elected to the White House,” Van Hollen said.