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Common Power Executive Director Charles Douglas is finally back home after months of door-knocking and days of ballot curing in Mississippi. We took our conversation bigger picture, because we sure had a lot of wins to catch up on.
This Live also had a surprise guest. I was on solo dad duty with my five-month-old son James on my lap, and I thought I was getting away with it because he was cropped out of the frame on desktop. Then the chat started saying they could see the baby. So if you tune in, you’ll see James before anyone else on the internet besides my close friends list on Instagram. Mostly you’ll see the top of his head and his little curls. You’ll also watch me get him to sleep, celebrate too early, and wake him right back up. The parents in the chat were not impressed.
When it comes to the election, this blue tsunami was predictable. Back in January 2025, during the authoritarian speedrun, I said this would backfire. You can’t be this unpopular and this politically weak for this long. Political gravity still exists. Republican turnout cratered in much of the South, and early numbers show Black and Latino turnout hitting presidential-year levels in many places. Young voters showed up too, and for a lot of them this will be formative, the way Obama was for us millennials.
Despite the threats, there were no troops and no ICE at the polls, and nobody called around looking for 11,780 votes. The win was too big to rig. Charles saw the closest call himself: he spent the final count in Mississippi watching commissioners go through affidavit ballots one by one while losing Senator Hyde-Smith’s people tried to stir things up.
We also talked about what actually won. Charles thinks the “moderate vs. progressive” framing is BS, and I agree. Progressives are the R&D department of the party. They tested affordability and healthcare-for-all with voters, and now those ideas are mainstream. Talarico ran a progressive campaign. Ossoff put up LeBron numbers in Georgia while calling Trump the most corrupt president in history. Red-state Democrats won by prosecuting the case against Trump head-on. And with a majority this size, Charles thinks we could reach 60 votes on some of the big issues, especially if leadership follows Abdul El-Sayed’s plan: no more omnibus bills, just hundreds of clearly named, single-issue bills that Republicans have to vote against or Trump has to veto.
That brings us to leadership. I’m on team Senator Chris Van Hollen over Schumer. When Van Hollen went to El Salvador for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, opposing Trump wasn’t popular. That’s leadership. Charles made a strong case that replacing a leader doesn’t mean they’re a bad person. The question is whether they can lead us through this moment. We talked about Hakeem Jeffries, why Ayanna Pressley could win if she challenged him, and why nobody has matched Pelosi as a tactician.
Then there’s what comes next. Trump publicly sidelined JD Vance on foreign policy. Stephen Miller may end up as the fall guy. Escalation with Iran is still on the table. And with a Democratic Congress on the way, accountability is imminent.
I appreciate those of you who tuned in live and contributed so much to the conversation. This is truly the best community on Substack. If you’re just catching it now, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments and smash that like button.
Have a great weekend! And, as always, thank you for supporting independent media.
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