Democrats enjoyed some big wins last week, which are hopefully only a taste of what we'll be getting next year. We wanted to share with you our top three takeaways.
1) The geographic battle lines are definitely shifting. Democrats are struggling more in rural counties than we did ten years ago, and how to responsibly win back white, working-class voters will continue to be an important topic of conversation. But the good news is that we're starting to pick up steam in the suburbs, particularly those surrounding southern cities, like Atlanta, Houston, and now Richmond. The suburbs should start to play a larger role in our GOTV plans in 2018.
2) Millennials are starting to make a real impact. Back in 2008, many thought Millennials put Obama in the Oval Office, but the truth is he would have won without them. But now this generation is moving to the suburbs, having kids, and voting in strong numbers. The majority of them never fell in love with Clinton, as it's a much more progressive generation than Gen X'ers or Boomers. But with Trump in the White House, they went all-in with the moderate Ralph Northam in Virginia. Keep a watch out for the 18-34 voting bloc in 2018.
3) Ordinary people are running and winning. The elections last week saw an incredibly diverse cast of characters win seats in Virginia and New Jersey. Newly elected Danica Roem, Vin Gopal, and Ravi Bhalla are flipping the script on who an American candidate is supposed to be. Perhaps the Trump presidency's most lasting impact will be the way it encouraged good people to run for the first time, to resist on behalf of their communities.
This week Dave is recommending Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari.
"This time last year I recommended Harari's first book, Sapiens, which explores the meta-historical story of human beings. In the more philosophical Homo Deus, Harari explores the ways that the accelerating advances in science and technology could either transform our species into super-humans, or make us much less important to the world. Harari makes some futuristic predictions, but more importantly, he asks us to start thinking about what's next for the human race."