Fresh off a Democratic electoral victory that exceeded expectations on November 4, 2025, Third Way Senior Communications Director Kate deGruyter interviewed with Blog for Arizona and discussed the path forward for Democrats heading into the 2026, 2028 campaigns and beyond.
In the dynamics of Presidential politics, that includes supporting candidates that can win in the current Electoral Map in 2028 and the new one in 2032 when the census forces adjustments on the Electoral College map that will probably take away votes from blue and purple-blue leaning states and shifts them to red and solid purple/purple-leaning red states.
In her responses deGrutyer stressed that Democrats need to recruit pragmatic progressive candidates that can appeal and relate to voters in the center of the electorate and win the battle of reasonableness and the issue of affordability.
The questions and deGrutyer’s answers are below.
What are two lessons Democrats can learn from the Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherill gubernatorial victories?
“We saw clearly that you can be somebody who runs as a tough, pragmatist, and generate huge turnout and big results. I think that it is proof that moderates can win and flip key races if you look at some really important factors that they were able to do, that contributed to the size of their wins. They were able to flip red counties that have been won by Trump, and they moved dozens of them in the direction of Democrats. Spanberger swung 76 of 80 counties that went for Trump toward Democrats and flipped six from red to blue. Sherrill swung all eleven counties that voted for Trump back toward Democrats and flipped five. Flipping a Trump voter from red to blue is worth two because you deprive Republicans of a vote, and you add one to the Democratic column and so you see there the power of persuasion in building really significant victories for both of those campaigns, I think those were big, important things that Democrats should be looking to replicate. Moderates were overperformers, exceeding Harris’ margins, and we’re going to need candidates who can do that to win back a bunch of states that went in the red column in 2024.”
What are these two lessons Democrats can learn from Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign and victory?
“In the modern era of campaigning, voters want candidates who are able to speak off the cuff on a whole bunch of issues. That’s something that he was able to do. He really was accessible. I think you saw that in a lot of the digital contents. He was out around the city, interacting with voters. He had that kind of happy warrior demeanor about him. I also think Democrats really need to be creative about finding ways to get their message out there In ways that showcase their personality and their passion while allowing them to really connect with the voters. I think you saw that in a lot of the digital content from his campaign.”
Anything else you would like to add?
“Even Mamdani had to move to the middle to win. We saw that he had a whole bunch of policies that came up again — just as we warned — as major liabilities and even in deep blue New York City, he had to walk away with from those positions. Now, I don’t think that he’s come far enough. Republicans are going to really work hard to continue to exploit the extreme DSA agenda. But he did that (went to the center) in that race as it was getting toward the close. And so certainly, I think making sure that candidates are tacking to the middle, and it’s certainly a lot easier if you are somebody who is credibly making that case, is really important.”
What are at least two lessons Democrats can learn from the political inroads gains they made in local races across the country, like those in Mississippi, New Jersey, Georgia, and Pennsylvania?
“It is possible with the right candidate to compete in deep red states. We had Democrats in Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana not that long ago. Those states were represented by Democrats at the federal level, and so that shows that we’ve got to be focused on putting up good candidates for office and expecting that they can win if they are focused on the things that matter most to voters like rising prices and energy costs, thinking about Georgia, was super important. I think was a factor also in New Jersey, where energy costs are really rising. And public safety, I think, is really important. We saw a Democrat flipped a seat held by a MAGA Sheriff in Bucks County, Pennsylvania which is one of those key places in Pennsylvania that folks have really looked to as a kind of seat that Democrats used to perform well and where we had lost. The candidate who won is somebody with a military background, some strong credentials on public safety. And yet they were still able to make an affirmative case as a Democrat, that they could better represent their community in a way that wasn’t playing into the chaos and the excesses that we’ve been seeing in the Trump approach to widespread deportations. I think those are some good lessons for Democrats.”
What are least three issues Democrats should advance in their Affordability Agenda?
“I think healthcare costs are going to continue to be a really important conversation. It is going to be imperative on Democrats to make the case over the next year, as voters experience significant price increases in the coverage that their families need to make very clear that Donald Trump and the Republican Party is responsible for the significant cost increase that they’re going to be paying. That is going to be a live issue. Obviously, you know, there’s the expectation that the Senate will have a vote, and so there will be at least some people who have to go on the record about that. But it was Trump’s own pollster earlier this summer who had said what a political liability these increases from the expiration of these tax credits would be for Republican candidates. We’ve got to be pressing the case to voters that we are the ones fighting for their costs, and that Republicans are responsible for the huge increase in costs.”
“Energy costs are also going to continue to be a hot conversation, and so I think that’s something that we need to be talking about, as part of our agenda.
And I would say, broadly, there is a sense in the electorate that they are working hard, and they can’t get ahead. We need a new generation of ideas about how we help make the American Dream real for workers today. How do we make homeownership real —something that, frankly, a generation of Millennials feels like is outreach for them? So, you know, we had some ideas that we put out calling for a Homebuilder in Chief and building 12 million new homes in the next administration. There’s lots of conversations about how do you build more houses? We need more homes that are going to help families feel like they can access the American Dream and owning a home is a key piece of that. Healthcare, which we already talked about, is a key piece of what Americans think about is kind of and evidence of a good middle class life and thinking about how we continue to help them feel like if they work hard and play by the rules, like they’ve got a fair share, and they can get ahead. I think that is something where we’re going to need to be continuing to generate a lot more ideas.”
I saw a piece from Mr. Horowitz at your organization, promoting Apprenticeships. Would that be part of the forward agenda?
“Yes. There are a huge number of Americans who don’t have a college degree and are trying to figure out how they access the skills and training to succeed. Apprenticeships are important. They are a way that you can be earning money while your building skills. It can be something that if you’re somebody who is mid-career and trying to get ahead that you can do as part of building your skills. I think that’s very important and also sort of showcasing that we are thinking about how we are building opportunity for folks who don’t have a college degree. And there are a whole bunch of skilled trades where we are in very dire need of workers to meet the growing demand. I think apprenticeships are a very important piece.”
How about Universal childcare and preschool?
“There is a whole generation of families that are two parent households, and I’ve had this conversation recently with current candidates, that know nothing structurally has changed from the time when we had one parent working households and stay at home moms to where we now have two parent working households as the norm. It is putting a huge burden on working families to figure out how they’re going to juggle picking up kids from school, cobbling together childcare in the late afternoon and over school breaks. If you’re somebody who works shifts, having childcare on nights or on weekends, being able to work and also ensure that your kids are cared for and at the right place. I think child care is certainly an important piece of that of the affordability agenda and making sure that we have high quality care, But also meeting the variable kind of needs across the workforce is going to be really important.”
Is there anything not covered in the first four questions that you would like the readers to know about last Tuesday’s election and moving forward to 2026?
“As we look ahead to how Democrats keep building on the momentum from the last election, it is true that the electorate the Democrats are going to have to win to take back power is just much more competitive than what we saw in New York City. So it is really important to look at the model that you can use to replicate in places like Arizona, where, frankly, very conservative voters outnumber than number of very liberal voters. That’s true in every single battleground state, that is a mathematical reality.”
“And so, thinking about what we can do to win over enough voters in the middle to ensure that we get a victory is the thing that must be driving Democrats every day. At the presidential level, only one Democrat has been able to win the White House since 1980 without hitting a supermajority of moderate voters. And that was Barack Obama, who was a generational talent and an historic figure with his election, and even he won 56 percent of moderate voters.”
“In 2024, Democrats lost the battle of reasonableness, and so showing voters that we are focused on their priorities that we have ideas that are going to fix problems of high costs and going to make it easier for working families to get ahead. We’ve got to do so in a way that is building our coalition because, looking a few years down the road, Democrats can win every single battleground state and after the next census, the expectation is that only going to be worth I think 256 electoral votes. And so to get to 270, we’re also going to have to run the table in all of those states that we lost last election, and we’re going to have to be able to run and win in states that are even redder. We should be looking at who is able to win red and purple states. What is the model to do that is going to be how we set ourselves up, not just for a single election result where we win but really rebuilding a durable winning coalition that is going to be the mission over the next, not just one cycle, but several cycles.”
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