Some Democrats are misreading the mandate.
Ro Khanna’s takeaway from the midterms? “DEI is BACK!”
Democrats like Khanna ought to not take this sweep as a positive referendum on their wider cultural Inquisition that gave Republicans the mandate in 2024.
Race-based admissions and hiring practices remain deeply unpopular. Successful ballot measures curbing transgender ideology and exit polls showing a voter preference for Republicans over Democrats on immigration policy suggest a much more right-of-center nation than the blue wave reveals.
This was an election decided mostly on what Americans perceived as government corruption and practical challenges to living well, not on hopes of establishing “the GAYEST Congress in history!” That Republican efforts to broadcast James Talarico’s musings on biblically justified abortion, transgender children, and God’s nonbinary identity failed to sink his campaign suggests even more broadly that culture wars just aren’t as compelling to voters as they were two years ago.
But even though DEI isn’t back by any popular demand, and other Woke 1 identity-obsessed bonafides really were craaazy enough for most Democrats to ditch, the party’s loud left flank just can’t help it. Success in 2028 will be decided by how successfully moderates and leadership can keep the ideological excess and revenge-driven pursuits of the fringes from co-opting the mission of the entire party.
One rupture is already forming over head-on-a-pike retribution lawsuits against Republican figures favored by the likes of Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. “LAWYER UP,” he posted on X. “We’re going to toss out subpoenas like Mardi Gras beads,” wrote Representative Analilia Mejia. “Thank you, Mr. President. Our thank you will come in January — with subpoenas,” posted Representative Yassamin Ansari. Contrast that with Hakeem Jeffries on MS NOW: “The American people don’t want us to get even. They want us to get things done on their behalf because life is way too expensive.”
Jeffries has it right. But his party looks like it’s already misreading the voters’ mandate and jumping straight into lawfare and the ever-honorable, never-ending pursuit of social justice.