Rahm Emanuel knows how congressional Democrats can keep winning
Vox · Cameron Peters, Sean Rameswaram ·
What Democrats should do with their majorities, according to someone who’s been there before.
Democrats had a better night than anyone expected on Tuesday, winning sweeping majorities in both the House and the Senate as voters turned away from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Now, they have to figure out how to govern and contend with two more years of Trump’s presidency — and gear up to hold onto their new majorities in 2028.
It’s a familiar situation for the party: Two decades ago, voters unhappy with President George W. Bush and the Iraq War propelled Democrats to congressional majorities in the 2006 midterms. Two years later, President Barack Obama won his first term and Democrats won even more seats in the House and Senate.
Rahm Emanuel — a former US ambassador to Japan, Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff, and member of Congress — was there to witness it. He led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 when it led the charge for a Democratic House majority, and helped steer that majority from 2007 to 2009 as Democratic caucus chair.