DNC chair says focus on affordability brought big Democratic wins

Trump calls on Senate GOP to eliminate filibuster, reopen government and pass sweeping agenda

Following a swath of Democratic victories across the country Tuesday night, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said staying focused on affordability helped party candidates win.

“But as much as people want to focus on the differences within the Democratic Party — of course we have conservative Democrats, centrists, progressives, and leftists — the reality is there was a lot that all of these candidates had in common last night, right?” Martin said to CNN anchor Audie Cornish on Wednesday morning. “There was a through line. And the through line is that all three candidates, Zohran Mamdani, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, were focused on kitchen table issues, not on gilded ballrooms. They were focused on affordability.”

“How do you actually bring down the cost of goods?” Martin continued. “How do you actually bring down the cost of people’s mortgage and rent and the cost of childcare and on and on. All the things that are creating anxiety within the American people who are just — want a champion, want someone to focus on their economic future. And that’s what Democrats did.”

Martin said that thinking negative sentiments toward President Trump helped Democrats win is “the wrong lesson” which “takes away from the fact that the other thing all three of those candidates had in common is they ran for something. They ran on a positive agenda of how they would actually make a difference in people’s lives.”

Martin also pushed back on criticism the party has received over “not embracing candidates,” which he said was “just inaccurate.”

“We are a coalition party,” he said. “And that means you win through addition, not subtraction. That means we welcome all candidates that run. It’s not up to me to put my finger on the scale and decide which candidates we will support. That’s up to the primary voters, which is why, by the way, I endorsed Zohran Mamdani the night that he won and was proud to support him, unlike other Democratic leaders.”

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill and Virginia Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger were among the many Democratic candidates to win on Tuesday. Virginia state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D) also won the state’s lieutenant governor’s race to become the first Indian person to hold statewide office in the commonwealth and the first Muslim woman to win a statewide race in the U.S.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) also saw a victory as voters said “yes” to Proposition 50, his redistricting measure that will allow the state Legislature to redraw the Golden State’s congressional map. Lawmakers will redraw its maps to give Democrats — already with a supermajority in the state — as many as five more seats in the House of Representatives.

Storu by Ryan Mancini, The Hill