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Post Election Thought

Haven’t blogged in a while. There have been a ton of things I had intended to post from other social media formats, but, you know, life. Please forgive. Anyhooooo. Here are some thoughts about the Dem’s stunning victories in the 2026 midterms.

Post Democrat Tsunami Thought.

I was just asked about my thoughts on the aspect of some “socialist” and DSA types of Democrats winning last night.

Doesn’t this indicate that this is the way the party should move?

From what I’ve seen, there are 6 of those that won in the House, and 2 for mayor. At least those who include the badge as part of their political identity. But here’s the thing. This isn’t about them, or other interesting ways to group and label candidates. This is much more about “the party”…

Or the lack there-of.

For years, the DNC has been practically hand picking and guiding candidates into positions where they can be nominated and run for office. I’m not going to say they had a complete stranglehold on the right of candidate succession. But what they did have was something vital.

Money.

They controlled who got more funding, or less.

For more many years, I have been just one of many who have criticized the peeps running the DNC of stifling the ascension of younger, more interesting candidates, candidates who may attract younger voters in favor of the tried and true old guard. It’s how we got Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Janet Mills attempting to run for the Maine Senate seat. I was pissed when they fired young and dynamic David Hogg from the DNC. And then there was the ridiculous “audit” that was first denied the light of day, then they decide to release it, only for us to find it was poorly written and inconsequential.

For the last decade at least, the DNC chipped away at itself until it looked almost irrelevant.

I was severely critical of the whole enterprise. But I was missing something. A seemingly weak DNC may have been EXACTLY what was needed. It allowed younger candidates to come up without the old guard standing over their shoulders. It allowed them to craft their own messages that matched the wants and needs and “personalities” of the communities they would serve. It allowed the Mamdani, El-Sayed, and Hamilton, Talerico types to emerge. As much as Conservatives would love to paint this picture, the “socialist wing” is not a dominant force now in control of the party. Rather, because the reigns of the DNC are not a tight as they once were, the Party has as an unintended but welcomed side effect become more diverse.

The Democratic Party has accidentally stumbled into becoming a thing the Republicans used to pride themselves on – Being the Party of the Big Tent.

SAddendum: Back in July, it was reported that DNC was severely in debt. Chair Ken Martin was spending much more money than it had coming in. Those that fund the Democrat cause were not happy, and that translates into not giving money (see the strife Obama went through with the donors in 2012, and how his change to support same sex marriage opened the wallets). Martin’s defense was that he was mortgaging the house to ensure campaigns were well staffed, and to get money into smaller races usually ignored. Everyone pays attention to the national government and governor races, but the Dems did really well taking over state legislatures that were considered firmly red.

Now, a lot of the results of the 2026 elections were a rebuke of Trump’s and his acolytes missteps, overreach, stupidity, and abject cruelty. But maybe, just maybe, we need to take a second look at what Ken Martin did, and maybe he deserves some credit for taking risks we didn’t recognize at the time. Maybe that debt, those risks, payed