Although President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election was hardly the “landslide” that many of his allies claim it was, Democratic strategists and organizers were clearly disappointed this year.
Trump, according to Cook Political Report, picked up 312 electoral votes compared to 226 for Harris. The president-elect won the popular vote as well, defeating Harris by roughly 1.5 percent in Cook’s vote count (as of Friday, November 22). That’s a close election — not a “landslide” — but it’s a victory nonetheless.
Moreover, Republicans held the U.S. House of Representatives while flipping the U.S. Senate, where they will have a 53-47 majority in 2025. Longtime Democratic Senators Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio were voted out of office.
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But Democrats, for all their disappointments in 2024, had their share of wins as well. And The American Prospect’s Luke Goldstein, in an article published on November 22, stresses that the Democrats who fared well on Election Night had a “compelling economic message.”
“Across the country,” Goldstein explains, “candidates not named Kamala Harris found success by more effectively selling the achievements of the Biden Administration and casting a more convincing economic message.… By looking at frontline swing races, it’s very clear that candidates who anchored their messaging specifically in fighting corporate power overperformed the national ticket.”
Goldstein adds, “These economic positions weren’t branded as progressive or radical but instead, addressed what exit polling showed was top of mind for voters in this election: inflation and overall cost of living.”
Goldstein points to Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kansas), who was reelected, as an example of a Democrat who prevailed with a strong economic message. Others include Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Washington State), Rep. Pat Ryan (D-New York), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pennsylvania) and Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Maryland).
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Zac Donley, Davids’ communications director, told The American Prospect, “High costs, particularly for groceries, have been a top priority that many Kansans mentioned while Rep. Davids was on the campaign trail. She is working hard to reduce these costs through a variety of solutions.”
Goldstein notes, “Harris’ suburban coalition carried her in blue states, but it couldn’t bring in enough working-class voters to win nationally. A compelling economic message was better equipped to do that not just in Massachusetts, but in frontline districts and red states across the country.”
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Luke Goldstein’s full article for The American Prospect is available at this link.
