Thumping, shellacking, seismic shift, historic: there’s no shortage of strong words to describe the midterm defeat that voters handed to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party (GOP). None of them quite capture the scale of the blue wave.
The election was a national demand for change from Democrats, Republicans, and Independents of all ages, races and social classes, rural and urban alike. Voters were determined that Trump, who has broken so many promises and brazenly enriched himself, his family and his cronies at the expense of the American people, would not get away with it.
Democrats flipped five governorships and 12 state legislative chambers, giving them the power to dismantle anti-union reforms and regressive tax, housing and school policies.
Democrats must now deliver on promises to reduce the cost of living and reestablish Congress’s power over federal spending. They must also stop the cruelty, arrogance, and authoritarianism that have defined Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. And there is, justifiably, an appetite for accountability for the corruption that has defined his second term in office.
If Democrats fail to deliver, the pendulum may swing back toward the GOP two years from now. Voters care more about results than party affiliations.
The Democrats can help themselves by immediately passing high-profile health care bills that reverse the regressive and mean-spirited Trump policies. Sure, Trump has promised to wield the veto pen, but Congress should continue to pile bills on his desk. Vetoes of laws that protect families’ pocketbooks will only dig Republicans into a deeper hole heading into the 2028 presidential election.
The new majority should first restore the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credit subsidies for individuals earning over four times the federal poverty level. Congress allowed the subsidies to expire in 2025, which caused out-of-pocket costs to more than double in many cases. Expiration of the tax credits drove insurers to increase benchmark premiums by an average of more than 20 percent this year. Moreover, millions of low-income adults are losing ACA coverage because of stricter documentation and work requirements.
Democrats must also reverse sweeping Medicaid changes in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which aim to cut $1 trillion over the next decade by curtailing state financing mechanisms, increasing eligibility reviews, and imposing 80 hours of work, education, or volunteerism monthly. The good news is that Democratic majorities in statehouses can help 2.3 million young adults to stay on Medicaid through how they implement the federal law’s policies.
One of the most malicious Trump policies was to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In New York City alone, 27,000 primarily single, young adults lost benefits. The federal government has also shifted a larger share of administrative costs to state and local governments, and upcoming federal cuts threaten more safety net funding through 2029.
Incoming Speaker Hakeem Jeffries will lead a majority of at least 250 seats, large enough to avoid the chaos of the uncooperative factions that paralyzed GOP House control. The Senate victory of at least 53 seats was so large that Democrats may reach a filibuster-proof majority in 2028.
A majority of that size means Democrats can pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and push for historic ethics reforms. I support calls to outlaw stock trading by members of Congress and their families, to require blind trusts across all three branches of government, and to pass comprehensive lobbying reform. The federal government should also adopt a “Kushner rule,” named for Trump’s son-in-law, which would prohibit foreign investments during government service and for two years afterwards. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Supreme Court is the only federal court without a binding code of conduct.
Jeffries must resist calls for retribution. That will be tough because Black and Latino voters are fed up with the Democratic Party’s habit of pulling its punches. They want to fight fire with fire. Many want revenge for Trump’s removal of Black officials, rollback of civil rights and diversity programs, attacks on voting rights, hyperaggressive immigration enforcement, and normalization of racist tropes and imagery.
The smarter strategy is to avoid revenge. There’s no value in mimicking Trump’s tactics. The Democrats’ words and deeds should emphasize equity, fairness, and easing the economic strain Trump has created. Democrats would be wise to reassure MAGA Republicans that the new majorities are committed to democratic inclusion, not payback.
We can all take a lesson from the late Nelson Mandela, who rejected calls for vengeance in South Africa after the Black majority came to power. Mandela chose a third way between revenge and national amnesia.
Democrats face a similar strategic choice: prioritize governance, moderation and institutional progress over personal or political revenge. That is the best available option that still leaves room to pursue some form of accountability for Trump and his minions.
David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org.
