The media is puzzling over voters choosing centrist Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey and democratic socialists in New York City and Seattle.
Take a step back, though, and this election looks a lot like President Trump’s sweep last year: An unsettled electorate still in revolt against the status quo and punishing whoever’s in power.
The voters’ message was less about ideology than institutions. Americans believe their political and governing institutions are broken and want someone who can fix them. They are frustrated with leaders who inflame tribal partisanship rather than forging consensus around tackling pressing national problems. And they think the government has grown too big, costly and stuck in a “can’t do” mentality that puts process over results.
Such attitudes are particularly a problem for Democrats, who present as defenders rather than reformers of failing public institutions. The problem isn’t lack of resources. Former President Joe Biden’s prodigious spending didn’t lower living costs or improve economic prospects for the non-college majority. Voters’ shifts towards Democrats this month, however, indicated that Trump’s tariffs and power grabs aren’t doing the job, either.
When things aren’t working, radical change becomes the pragmatic course for political leaders. But radical change in which direction?
