Revealed: 'Electoral dominos' targeting Trump start now — not in 2026
Donald Trump suffered a major setback during his first presidency when Democrats flipped the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms and enjoyed a net gain of 41 seats. Now, with Trump serving a nonconsecutive second term, Democrats are looking to the 2026 midterms and hoping for another blue wave.
But The Nation's John Nichols, in an article published on June 9, stresses that for Democrats, the path to defeating Trumpism doesn't start in 2026 — it starts with the elections being held this year.
In 2025, elections range from gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey to special elections in the U.S. House of Representatives to state legislature races. In Philadelphia, progressive Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner is almost certain to win a third term after defeating a primary challenger by double digits.
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"Trump’s approval ratings have tanked, and protests over his administration’s attacks on science, health care, immigrants, judges, and anyone else who gets in his way take place nearly every day," Nichols observes. "While the turn against Trump and Trumpism is glaringly evident, it is equally evident that this president is a master of self-deception. And while Trump has a history of denying election results, Republicans won't be able to spin their way out of serious electoral setbacks if they come in 2025."
Nichols continues, "In Virginia, where Republicans won every statewide race in 2021, control of the House of Delegates is up for grabs. If Democrats win there as part of a broader sweep of New Jersey and the rest of the country's odd-year election map, it will send a devastating message to the (Trump) Administration."
In New Jersey, Democrats and Republicans haven't chosen their gubernatorial candidates yet. Many New Jersey Democrats are feeling bullish about Rep. Mike Sherrill (D-New Jersey), believing she could be quite competitive against GOP gubernatorial hopeful Jack Cittarelli (who Trump has endorsed even though he was critical of Trump in the past).
Meanwhile, in Virginia, Democrats have already settled on former Rep. Abigail Spanberger as their 2025 gubernatorial nominee.
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"Virginia Democrats know what’s at stake," Nichols explains. "For the first time since 2013, they united behind a single gubernatorial candidate, former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, before the state's spring primary. And for the first time in decades, the party has fielded candidates in all 100 races for the (Virginia) State House of Delegates. One of the reasons for this is a concerted organizing effort by Dr. Fergie Reid Jr., a retired physician and the son of Dr. William Ferguson Reid, the pioneering civil rights activist who in 1967 unseated a segregationist to become Virginia’s first Black delegate since Reconstruction."
Nichols adds, "The senior Reid turned 100 in March and urged Virginia Democrats to honor his longevity by filling ballot lines in every legislative contest. But it was more than nostalgia that helped them achieve a full slate. As Reid Jr. told the Virginia Mercury, 'Virginia is the first opportunity for really any state in the United States to answer back to what’s going on in Washington right now. It's going to send a big, loud message to the rest of the country and to the world that not everybody in America is with Trump.'"
Nichols describes Virginia and New Jersey as "the most important electoral dominoes in 2025."
"If they fall to the Democrats, and if other contests this November follow suit," Nichols observes, "that could significantly boost Democratic recruitment, fundraising, and organizing prospects in the 2026 midterm races for control of Congress."
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Read John Nichols' full article for The Nation at this link.
