Following a stronger-than-expected showing from Democratic candidates in last week’s elections, there's been a lot of media discourse about what the party can learn from these wins. Much of the focus has been on Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York City. Personally, I'm not sure those lessons are too complicated. Running charismatic, media-savvy politicians with an independent streak and message discipline has been something Democrats have excelled at since President John F. Kennedy. God only knows why the party largely gave up on it after President Barack Obama left office. Maybe Mamdani’s success will jog the collective memory.
But there are other, deeper lessons from Tuesday night’s “blue wave,” and an important one comes from Virginia, where 36-year-old Democrat Jay Jones unseated Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares. Attorney general races don’t typically end up on the national stage, but this one did for morbid reasons, and there are some hard lessons for all of us here.
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