The first Muslim senator. The first Black woman elected governor. The first openly gay male senator.
The number of "firsts" achieved in Tuesday's election was extraordinary. Yet during the campaign, candidates hardly uttered a word about breaking barriers. Instead, most spoke relentlessly about household finances that had become impossible to manage, an unpopular war and corruption.
These facts were not central to their pitches to voters. This is a major shift in the politics of identity. Not long ago, Democrats ran on diversity with slogans like "I'm with her." Now they appear to have recognized that voters are just not that interested in the symbolism for its own sake.
It is why millions of Black, Hispanic and Asian voters have whipsawed between the two parties in search of leaders who will improve their material conditions. Building coalitions For a long time, Democrats thought the changing electorate would give them an enduring and broad coalition. As the country diversified, the belief went, it would inevitably become more liberal.
This did not occur. After the 2008 election of Barack Obama, the ultimate pathbreaking moment in modern American politics, some Americans became disappointed that their financial outlook did not improve enough. For decades now, unemployment among Black Americans has almost always remained twice as high as it is for white Americans.
This record has made it difficult for candidates to appeal to the power of representation. Hispanic people are now perpetual swing voters. Even with Kamala Harris on the ballot in 2024, Trump won the support of many Black, Hispanic and Asian voters.
Republican leaders thought they'd assembled a new multiracial conservative coalition. On the campaign trail, he called Somali immigrants "low I. Q." and said the Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim, was "on the side of the terrorists." Then on Tuesday, voters of every major demographic lurched left.
Two years after helping deliver Trump back to the White House, Hispanic voters swung toward Democrats more than any other racial or ethnic group. Young Hispanic men shifted back almost 50 points toward Democrats. Black Americans' support for Democrats is now back at 2020 levels.
Voters were not operating out of loyalty to an identity group. They are fed up with health care bills, low-paying jobs and the difficulty of buying a home. They will follow leaders who project a similar dissatisfaction.
In speeches on Tuesday night, the candidates who achieved "firsts" tended to deal lightly with the history they had just made. Gina Hinojosa, the new governor-elect of Texas, finally alluded to it 20 minutes into a populist oration. "As excited as I am by the history we've made tonight, I pray it does not compare to the future we build together," she said. The permanent majority that Democrats once hoped for did not arrive.
But demographic shifts changed politics in a different way. Baby Boomers are about 70 percent white. Gen-Z is just under half.
To young Americans, diversity is not a campaign slogan. It's a simple fact of life. THE SELL-OFF The stock market had its worst day in nearly two years.
Investors are worried about the A. I. build-out after Democratic victories stoked fears of tighter industry regulation.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing