Posted on 11/15/2026 12:55:40 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Democratic House and Senate majorities built on wins in Trump districts and red states are acting as a brake on lofty progressive proposals
DENVER—James Talarico stood before hundreds of Democrats who gathered here to plot a new course for their party and called for Congress to pass an agenda as bold as Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.
“We have a mandate the size of Texas,” said Talarico, who won an upset victory in the state’s Senate race. He ticked off universal health coverage, a national ban on gerrymandering and other policy ambitions during his remarks Thursday.
But he and other incoming lawmakers who campaigned on lofty proposals face a challenging reality. The Democrats’ new House and Senate majorities are built on centrist candidates who won House districts and states that only two years ago voted for President Trump. That will make moderates the most powerful force in the next Congress and a likely check on the party’s most left-wing impulses.
These centrists are looking for immediate, if less transformative, policy wins to show the swing voters and Trump supporters who helped elect them that they are focused on cost-of-living issues.
“We can have the wish list, but we need to make sure that we’re focused on a task list, that is, things we know we can deliver,” said Rep.-elect Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, Pa., who flipped a Republican-held House district that Trump had carried by more than 8 percentage points in 2024.
The unifying goals that emerged in conversations among new and veteran lawmakers this past week include a ban on stock trading by House and Senate members—a response to anger over perceived self-dealing in government—and reversing cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies that Trump and the Republican-led Congress approved.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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I still can’t get over the fact that the complete nut job, woke, anti-Christian Talarico won in Texas. That said, Paxton, who was anointed by Trump, personified a sleazy politician and person.
And Paxton had NOTHING to do with what happened in Texas. Republican were wiped out across the board. Period. Lots of people jump up and say, “yeah, but Abbot didn’t lose AS BAD as Paxton!” Sure, Abbott was only thoroughly humiliated, but came slightly short of outrageously humiliated. Woo hoo.
Good luck with trying to “tame” the DSA.
Moderate Dems are useful idiots.
That is being rather generous.
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