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Across the national battlefield, House Democrats outperformed the top of the ticket by running authentic, locally-focused campaigns, as highlighted in new reporting from the Washington Post.
House Democrats’ focus on pocketbook issues, putting an “emphasis on border security,” and “defying” the national party in support of their communities helped them win competitive races – despite top-of-ticket headwinds. So far, “at least nine House Democrats… won in districts that Trump carried this year” as a result of this work.
Washington Post: How Democrats won in districts Trump carried
Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell | November 21, 2024
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Kristen McDonald Rivet was not surprised President-elect Donald Trump won her district. […] But McDonald Rivet also won — by seven points. She’s one of at least nine House Democrats who won in districts that Trump carried this year, according to a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee analysis of election results to date — and there are almost certainly more.
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Those Democratic victories helped deny Republicans a more comfortable House majority… They also offer clues about what it might take for Democrats to start winning again in the Trump era.
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“They really focused on pocketbook issues and talking to their communities about their priorities and how they’re going to get things done,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene (Washington) said of the Democrats who won Trump districts.
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Three Democrats represent districts that Trump carried in 2020 and won again this year: Reps. Jared Golden (Maine), Marcy Kaptur (Ohio) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Washington).
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But other Democrats — including McDonald Rivet, Cuellar and Reps. Tom Suozzi (New York), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Susie Lee (Nevada), Gabe Vasquez (New Mexico) and Don Davis (North Carolina) — won districts that Biden carried in 2020 but that Trump flipped this year…
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Suozzi also credited his emphasis on border security with helping him survive even though Trump won his district on Long Island, which voted for Biden by 11 points in 2020.
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“I’m a Democrat,” Suozzi said. “I’ll always be a Democrat, but I’ve leaned into some topics that Democrats have not talked about for a long time and we’ve got to get more comfortable [with] as a party.”
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Vasquez said he defeated former Republican congresswoman Yvette Herrell in a New Mexico district that went for Trump the old-fashioned way: bringing money home to his district.
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