Some Things to Be Grateful for This Thanksgiving Week

“Thanks California!”

Thanksgiving, 1930. Picture Credit: U.S. National Archives

If the Midterms Were Held Today, the Republicans Would Lose Badly

During very grim times, it’s easy to neglect the things to be cheered by as the world seems to be going wrong all around us. But for those of us concerned that the tide might have turned decisively against democracy as the wrecking crew lays waste to one pillar after another, there may be a glimpse of hope on the horizon. Perhaps if we look hard enough, we might just see the beginning of the end of the ascendency of the right and all the carnage that has come with Trump 2.0 and Project 2025.

As the Daily Kos noted last week:

Riding a streak of unexpectedly strong election wins, Democrats have found yet another reason to feel bullish about 2026. A new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll shows a clear majority of voters leaning blue if the midterms were held today—a rare cushion in an era defined by razor-thin margins.

The headline number is almost jarring: Democrats lead the generic congressional ballot 55% to 41%. That’s the party’s biggest edge in this poll since late 2017, just before Democrats flipped more than 40 House seats during President Donald Trump’s first term. The symmetry isn’t perfect, but it’s close enough to make operatives on both sides sit up straighter. It’s the same point in Trump’s presidency; same polling drift away from the GOP; same ominous rumble of a potential blue wave.

While this margin is bigger than many other polls that cite a single digit advantage, it is noteworthy that most other polls corroborate the surge of anti-Trump feeling and show that Trump’s fascist regime is under water on nearly every major issue from the economy to immigration. What had been strong points for the right are now weaknesses, some glairing.

The holes in the SS GOP are big enough that they might just sink the ship.

The Redistricting Wars Likely Will Not Be a Political Catastrophe for Democrats

This story was knocked off the front pages quickly last week by the latest Epstein fervor, but it is probably far more important in the long term. As the LA Times reported:

A federal court on Tuesday blocked Texas from moving forward with its new congressional map, hastily drawn in hopes of netting up to five additional Republican seats and securing the U.S. House for the GOP in next year’s midterm elections.

The ruling is a major political blow to the Trump administration, which set off a redistricting arms race throughout the country earlier this year by encouraging Texas lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional district boundaries mid-decade — an extraordinary move bucking traditional practice.

Not to be outdone, Samuel Alito paused the lower court’s ruling temporarily by reinstating the new Texas districts, but to keep them permanently, the Supreme Court would have to contradict its own reasoning on redistricting.

Even if they do reinstate the gerrymandered maps in Texas, though, the likelihood is, according to most legal observers, California’s Proposition 50 will still stand and give the Democrats at least a push nationally. But the polling is beginning to look so bad for the GOP, that might not be of consequence. All things considered, a big wave election for Democrats might make this matter less for 2026, due in great part to the passage of Proposition 50.

Thanks California!

In Case You Missed It: The West Coast Also Elected a Socialist Mayor in a Major City

In an election that received virtually no national media coverage (unlike New York City’s mayoral race), Seattle elected Kate Wilson, a union-endorsed Democratic Socialist as Mayor. As FAIR reported:

She credited her win to a “volunteer-driven campaign among voters concerned about affordability and public safety in a city where the cost of living has soared as Amazon and other tech companies proliferated,” AP (11/13/25) reported. The wire service noted that “universal childcare, better mass transit, better public safety and stable, affordable housing are among her priorities”—similar to those of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

As FAIR notes, this race was ignored by most national outlets outside of the New York Times, New York Post, and Wall Street Journal, whose coverage ranged from tepid to hysterically McCarthyist. What her victory illustrates is that New York City is not an island of progressive possibility and that a smart, left populism that focuses on everyday economics can win, particularly in Democratic cities. In an era of historic economic inequality, this should not be a revelation (although is it as shocking one for some), but it is good news.

Data Shows that Corporate Democratic Efforts to Push the Party Right are Based on BS

G. Elliot Morris has ably shown that the argument that the Democratic Party’s image is suffering because of excessive progressivism is a false narrative. Digging into the most recent polling, he observes that according to the data, “the Democratic Party’s brand is being dragged down in part by left-wing liberals who are mad at the Party and its leadership.” Thus, it is not angry moderates turning right that are the problem but alienated base voters who are tired of the old guard Democrats.

It’s true that disillusionment is strong across the country and double-haters of both parties are abundant but, Morris points out:

[T]he electoral lean of the double-haters currently favors Democrats. Among voters who said they either did not turn out, or voted for someone other than Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, in 2024, and who said they viewed both parties as out of touch (103 respondents), 30% said they would either vote for or preferred Republicans to win control of the U.S. House in the 2026 midterms, versus 70% who said they would either vote for or preferred the Democrats to win.

More importantly for the future of the Democratic Party, Morris observes that the business as usual “common sense” about the need for Democrats to “move to the middle” (which means moving right) is neoliberal claptrap:

While many political analysts on the center and center left today suggest the Democrats need to moderate their party brand to appeal more to independents, the evidence suggests the weak party brand is actually coming from the left. Adjusting issue positions to match that of center or even center-right voters — a dubious strategy from first principles — may target the wrong voters.

Thus, the road to redemption does not lead to the exurbs, Clintonite triangulation, and a recommitment to the exhausted neoliberal order that left too many of us behind and surrendered the field to rightwing populism. Instead, a winning strategy for the Democrats might entail something bolder and more likely to revivify the idea that politics only moves people when it speaks to their needs and doesn’t hesitate to inspire them to dream of something better than the dead-end world we are living in.

Happy Thanksgiving, Dear Reader.