The Democrats Should Try the Sun Belt Strategy in 2020
Their path to the presidency and control of the Senate doesn’t necessarily go through the Midwest.
The road back to power.
Photographer: Christian Petersen/Getty Images North AmericaDemocrats should be encouraged by their recapturing of the House of Representatives, but results in the Senate should give them cause for concern in 2020. While not all races have been called, the path to what Democrats really want in 2021 — the presidency and control of both houses of Congress — got tougher last night, and may force Democrats to try an untested electoral strategy.
There will be a lot of noise about the Democratic presidential primary, with maybe a dozen or more candidates and debates about whether the party should be focused more on identity politics or economically based concerns. But what it really comes down to is whether the party wants to try to win back the Midwestern states that President Donald Trump flipped in 2016, or try to win new territory in Sun Belt states with changing demographics.