LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Democrats outperformed expectations in races across the country this week. And so NPR political correspondent Sarah McCammon has been asking Democrats and Republicans what this all means for next year's midterms. And Sarah is with me now. Good morning, Sarah.
SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: So let's start with Democrats. What are they telling you?
MCCAMMON: Well, obviously, they are very pleased across the...
FADEL: Right.
MCCAMMON: ...Board. And they're framing their success this week as a repudiation of President Trump's policies, as well as an affirmation of their candidates' focus across the country on economic issues like affordability. That said, I am hearing some divisions within the party about who best represents the future of the party. You know, is it more moderate Democrats like Abigail Spanberger in Virginia or Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey? Or is it young progressives like Zohran Mamdani, who won the mayoral race in New York City?
FADEL: Right. And Spanberger and Sherrill won the governors races. What are you hearing from Democrats about Mamdani specifically? Because he really won without the Democratic establishment behind him.
MCCAMMON: Yeah. I mean, they recognize that Mamdani excited the party base and motivated New York voters both to register in big numbers and to vote, largely by talking about these affordability issues like housing. I also heard some skepticism about his broader appeal beyond New York. Debbie Cox Bultan with the center-left group NewDEAL noted that the two moderate Democrats we mentioned, Spanberger and Sherrill, outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris' performance from last year by large margins.
DEBBIE COX BULTAN: That is not true for the mayor-elect in New York. And so I think when we think about how we're going to move forward and win across the country in places that are hard to win, we've got to look to people like Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill as the roadmap if we're going to be able to build broad coalitions to win in '26 and '28.
MCCAMMON: It's probably worth mentioning Mamdani was in a three-way race in New York City.
FADEL: Right.
MCCAMMON: He is a democratic socialist and has been accused by some Jewish groups of antisemitism based on some of his views on Israel. For his part, Mamdani has repeatedly said he would fight antisemitism, and he drew support from about a third of Jewish voters. Some centrist Democrats worry, though, that attacks on Mamdani from Trump and other Republicans, some of whom have painted him as a communist and a terrorist because of his Muslim faith, will harm Democrats in other parts of the country.
FADEL: But the attacks didn't work - right? - in New York. He got over a million votes. So what are the lessons from his win, if there are any?
MCCAMMON: Well, both Republicans and Democrats I've talked to since the election think Mamdani absolutely will be a focus in the coming months. But Ezra Levin of the progressive group Indivisible told me he thinks the Democratic Party has to be big enough for many voices if they want to win.
EZRA LEVIN: I think effective Democratic leadership would recognize we need a big tent. And if you're organizing with people in this moment who entirely agree with everything that you stand for, your tent's too small.
MCCAMMON: And Levin says the party needs to be laser-focused right now on fighting authoritarianism and defeating Trump's agenda.
FADEL: With how well the Democrats did on Tuesday, are Republicans recalibrating their strategy going forward?
MCCAMMON: You know, both parties - at least based on these results, where things stand right now - say the economy will continue to be a huge focus across the board. One Republican strategist I spoke with, Zack Roday with Ascent Media, acknowledged that focusing on cultural and social issues like the transgender policy issue seemed to be less effective for Republicans this year compared to a year ago. And he says Republicans are in power in Washington, and they'll need to focus on issues that voters care about, like the cost of living.
You know, on another note, Democrats also won a pretty resounding victory in California, allowing them to redraw their congressional maps. Another Republican strategist, Whit Ayres at North Star Opinion Research, told me some Republicans may look at this week's results, the big turnout from Democrats, and decide to be a little more cautious about this redistricting strategy, which President Trump, of course, has promoted. Ayres says in some districts where Republican control is more marginal, they could actually risk losing seats by doing this. So they could overplay their hand.
FADEL: That's NPR political correspondent Sarah McCammon. Thank you, Sarah.
MCCAMMON: Thank you.
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