How the Democrats Did It

Episode of The Ezra Klein Show · November 7, 2026 · 1 h 7 min

Ezra Klein and Michelle Goldberg dissect how Democrats won the 2026 midterms across Texas, Georgia, Michigan, Kansas and the South, and what the new party looks like.

Summary

Ezra Klein spoke with fellow New York Times Opinion columnist Michelle Goldberg about the Democratic wave in the 2026 midterm elections, drawing on Goldberg's on-the-ground reporting. They began with Texas, where Goldberg credited James Talarico's politics of neighborly love combined with attacks on tech billionaires and data centers, Gina Hinojosa's populist gubernatorial campaign, anger over school vouchers, a full slate of serious Democratic candidates, and a dramatic swing among Hispanic voters she attributed to aggressive immigration enforcement.

The conversation turned to Jon Ossoff's 18-point Senate win in Georgia, which Klein called proof that Trump's corruption could be weaponized politically; Goldberg tied Ossoff's skill at storytelling to his documentary background and compared him to Hungary's Péter Magyar. They discussed the apparent collapse of Republican dominance in the South, including races in South Carolina and Mississippi, and the Michigan Senate race, where Goldberg and Klein criticized the Democratic establishment's backing of Haley Stevens and argued that Abdul El-Sayed's populist, Medicare for All campaign succeeded despite attacks on his name and faith.

They also examined Adam Hamilton's Kansas campaign as a revival of a faith-inflected, culturally moderate populism, and Goldberg's theory that voters punish the side that seems to care more about issues like trans politics. In closing, Goldberg argued the emerging Democratic Party is defined by a focus on oligarchy and corruption and a new belief that MAGA voters can be won over, while Klein contrasted 2026 Democrats with the resistance politics of 2018. Goldberg recommended three novels: Good People, The Feast of the Goat, and The Man Who Loved Dogs.

Chapters

1:00
Introduction
Klein frames the episode around what united winning Democratic campaigns and introduces Michelle Goldberg.
2:31
Texas: Talarico and data center populism
Goldberg explains Talarico's win through Trump's alienation of Hispanic voters, a politics of kindness, and anger at tech billionaires and data centers.
6:56
Hinojosa, vouchers and a full ticket
Goldberg describes conservative anger over vouchers and the compounding effect of Democrats running serious candidates up and down the ballot.
9:38
Faith, texture and the anti-Trump
Klein and Goldberg discuss Talarico's religious politics, his willingness to praise Trump, and his appeal to religious voters.
16:18
Anti-billionaire populism and realignment
Goldberg argues that tech billionaires like Elon Musk became the face of Republican elitism, opening a realignment opportunity.
21:03
Hispanic swing and immigration enforcement
Klein cites huge Democratic swings in border counties and Goldberg attributes them to fear caused by ICE raids.
25:03
Ossoff's Georgia blowout
They analyze Ossoff's corruption-focused, formally delivered campaign and its roots in civil rights history and suburban activism.
37:28
The South becomes competitive
Klein argues the South has de-aligned from the GOP, discussing South Carolina and Scott Colom's Mississippi challenge.
41:49
Michigan: Stevens versus El-Sayed
They criticize the establishment's support for Haley Stevens and assess El-Sayed's populist win and Medicare for All.
52:21
Kansas and Adam Hamilton
Goldberg and Klein discuss Hamilton's pastor-led, liberal-and-conservative campaign and the limits of culture-war issues.
58:04
The new Democratic Party
Goldberg identifies a focus on oligarchy and corruption, and Klein contrasts 2026 Democrats with the 2018 resistance.
1:05:33
Book recommendations
Goldberg recommends three novels about assimilation, dictatorship and the Trotsky assassination.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg argues Trump won new Mexican-American voters in Texas and then alienated them through fear.
“Donald Trump got a bunch of new voters among mostly Mexican-American people in Texas, and then he absolutely terrorized them”
Listen from 2:58 · 2026 United States Senate election in Texas
Ezra Klein
Klein credits Joe Rogan's praise of Talarico with convincing Democrats that his approach could reach persuadable voters.
“It was Rogan inviting Tallarico on and then lavishing him in praise that made, I think, a lot of Democrats think maybe Tallarico's thing actually works”
Listen from 6:02 · 2026 United States Senate election in Texas
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg argues that fielding a full slate of serious Democratic candidates in Texas, rather than relying on one star, was crucial.
“not just relying on one marquee candidate to drag everybody across the finish line was, I think, really important”
Listen from 7:25 · 2026 Texas gubernatorial election
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg reports that vouchers angered parents in areas with few private schools who felt their public schools were being defunded.
“but not for parents who live in places where there aren't a lot of private schools, but where they feel like their schools are being defunded”
Listen from 7:30 · School vouchers in Texas
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg argues Talarico's everyone-against-the-billionaires framing is numerically superior to a red-versus-blue divide.
“So it's this kind of like everyone against the billionaires kind of politics, which just is numerically much better than a sort of like red-blue divide”
Listen from 15:07 · Populism
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg notes polls now show voters viewing the Republican Party as the elitist party, a recent change.
“People now in polls see the Republican Party as the elitist party. That was not true a few years ago”
Listen from 18:38 · Populism
Linked moment · 21:03Skip to 21:03 using a listen link in the info box.
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg attributes the Hispanic swing to the direct experience of immigration raids rather than rhetoric.
“And it's another thing to have masked men grabbing your relatives off their job sites”
Listen from 23:07 · U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg says Ossoff succeeded by tying Trump's corruption to voters' personal economic suffering.
“Connect those to the suffering you're feeling in your own life. So it's not just that they're enriching themselves”
Listen from 29:39 · Political corruption in the United States
Jon Ossoff
Ossoff accused Mike Collins of voting to subsidize data center developers at constituents' expense.
“It's that you're robbing your constituents to subsidize your donors”
Listen from 30:11 · Opposition to data centers
Ezra Klein
Klein argues Ossoff proved Democrats' long-held belief that Trump's corruption could be a major political liability.
“what he showed is something that Democrats had long believed, but they couldn't crack the code on, which is that Trump's corruption should be a tremendous political vulnerability”
Listen from 31:12 · Political corruption in the United States
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg describes Ossoff's deliberate restraint as a theory of attention opposite to the prevailing always-online approach.
“his theory of attention is sort of like the opposite of the theory of attention that people have been learning for the last however many years”
Listen from 37:07 · 2026 United States Senate election in Georgia
Ezra Klein
Klein argues the South has de-aligned rather than realigned, becoming unreliable territory Republicans must now defend.
“What has happened is the South has become unreliable now for the Republican Party. They have to defend it”
Listen from 38:04 · 2026 United States midterm elections
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg argues the Democratic establishment should have backed Mallory McMorrow instead of Haley Stevens.
“The smart thing for the establishment would have been to coalesce behind Mallory McMurrow”
Listen from 45:24 · 2026 United States Senate election in Michigan
Ezra Klein
Klein argues the Democratic establishment's notion of electability ignores star power and charisma.
“is it does not care about and does not select for star power. It does not care about and does not select for charisma”
Listen from 46:06 · 2026 United States Senate election in Michigan
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg notes that El-Sayed's Medicare for All platform, once seen as electorally dangerous, barely drew attacks.
“he ran on Medicare for all, which we used to think was like an extremely electorally dangerous position. And it barely registered as sort of a point of attack”
Listen from 51:51 · Medicare for All
Ezra Klein
Klein says Medicare for All is very popular as a concept but hard to pass because of its cost.
“Medicare for All in its broader forms is hard to pass because it's very hard to pay for. As a concept, it is very, very popular”
Listen from 52:14 · Medicare for All
Ezra Klein
Klein argues populism is not a position on the left-right spectrum, citing Hamilton's populist yet culturally moderate campaign.
“populism, even though we sometimes use it as like a synonym for progressive or leftist, it's not like a position point on the left-right spectrum”
Listen from 55:19 · Populism
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg argues abortion-rights referendums may have freed voters to support Republicans once their rights were protected.
“some of these referendums kind of gave people permission to vote for Republicans because they had protected their abortion rights”
Listen from 57:02 · 2026 United States Senate election in Kansas
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg theorizes that voters reward whichever side appears to care less about a divisive culture-war issue.
“But I also have a theory that voters reward the side that seems to care about that issue less”
Listen from 57:35 · 2026 United States midterm elections
Michelle Goldberg
Goldberg doubts the new Democratic majority will raise taxes or pass a wealth tax soon, expecting corruption investigations instead.
“I would be very surprised if they're able to, say, raise taxes or institute a wealth tax anytime soon”
Listen from 59:55 · Political corruption in the United States
James Talarico
Talarico said on Fox News after his win that he was not seeking retribution and would serve all Texans.
“I am not interested in retribution. The people of Texas did not elect me last night for retribution”
Listen from 1:01:40 · 2026 United States Senate election in Texas
Ezra Klein
Klein contrasts 2026 Democrats with 2018, when the party still treated Trump as an aberration.
“2018, I think the Democratic Party still sort of felt this Trump thing was an aberration”
Listen from 1:02:37 · 2026 United States midterm elections

People

In the conversation

Ezra KleinNew York Times Opinion columnist and host of The Ezra Klein Show (diarization also merged one PopCast promo line into this label)
Michelle GoldbergNew York Times columnist who criticized the UFC event
Jon OssoffU.S. senator from Georgia cited as connecting corruption and economics
James TalaricoDemocratic Senate nominee in Texas

Discussed

Donald TrumpPresident of the United States whose conduct of the Iran war is the episode's main subject
Ken PaxtonTexas Attorney General and Republican Senate nominee
Greg AbbottRepublican governor of Texas
Joe RoganAmerican comedian and host of The Joe Rogan Experience
Jasmine CrockettU.S. representative from Texas
Elon MuskEntrepreneur behind X, xAI and SpaceX, discussed in AI competition
Mike CollinsGeorgia Republican congressman and Senate nominee
John LewisLate civil rights leader and congressman, Warnock's parishioner
Péter MagyarHungarian opposition leader
Haley StevensU.S. Representative running for Senate in Michigan
Mallory McMorrowMichigan state senator running for U.S. Senate
Chuck SchumerSenate Democratic leader
Graham PlatnerPresumptive Democratic nominee for Senate in Maine
Susan CollinsRepublican senator who noted Congress holds the power of the purse
Scott ColomMississippi district attorney and 2026 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Mississippi
Cindy Hyde-SmithRepublican U.S. senator from Mississippi, Colom's opponent
Roger MarshallRepublican U.S. senator from Kansas
Bernie SandersU.S. Senator from Vermont who discussed mail-in ballots before the 2020 election
Kamala HarrisFormer Vice President mentioned as a potential California endorser
Mario Vargas LlosaPeruvian novelist, author of The Feast of the Goat
Leonardo PaduraCuban novelist, author of The Man Who Loved Dogs

Topics

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What Happened on Tuesday? (Live from Crooked Con)
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Dan Pfeiffer's Crooked Con panel dissects Democrats' 2026 midterm wave, then Jon Favreau interviews Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on governing, AI, Iran, and 2028.
Midterm Blood Bath, $4T AI Sell Off, Data Center Freeze, What's Next for Trump
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The All-In hosts dissect the Republicans' 2026 midterm collapse, Trump's path forward, a $4 trillion AI stock sell-off over data center fears, and OpenAI's exponential time hypothesis result.
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Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! · Nov 7, 2026 · 47 min
Peter Sagal and panelists joke about Democrats' midterm sweep and other news, and Sterlin Harjo discusses his Oklahoma upbringing and plays a square-dancing quiz.
#2578 - Calley Means
The Joe Rogan Experience · Nov 6, 2026 · 2 h 25 min
Calley Means tells Joe Rogan why he resigned from the Trump administration, alleging lobbyist-driven obstruction of MAHA health policies on glyphosate, vaping, kratom and food.
Afternoon Breaking Updates with Ben 11/5/2026
The MeidasTouch Podcast · Nov 5, 2026 · 1 h 17 min
Ben Meiselas reacts to the Democrats' 2026 midterm sweep, urging aggressive oversight and impeachment while attacking Trump's Iran war policy and officials.

From the publisher

President Trump is primarily responsible for the Republican shellacking on Tuesday. But to get over the finish line in so many places — across the Midwest and deep into the South – Democrats had to run the right candidates, and those candidates ran very different campaigns. So how exactly did those Democrats do it? Michelle Goldberg, my colleague at New York Times Opinion, did amazing work this past year covering the biggest races — traveling to Texas, Michigan, Maine and other states, meeting with the candidates, and getting a sense of their campaigns on the ground. She joins me for a deep dive into the most exciting — and shocking — wins, and what they reveal about the new Democratic Party that will emerge out of this election.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on November 9, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Politics·News Commentary