Democrats In Disarray

Donald Trump’s landslide victory in 2016 surely portends a permanently unstoppable electoral coalition:

Iowa Democrats pulled off an impressive and important victory in a Southeast Iowa special election this evening, boosting the party’s hopes that 2018 could be a bounce-back year. Democratic veterinarian Phil Miller of Fairfield comfortably defeated Republican farmer Travis Harris of Davis County, 4,021 to 3,324 (about 55% to 45%), thanks largely to a massive victory in his hometown of Jefferson County. That means Democrats will hold on to a key rural swing district that Donald Trump won in November by 22 points.

Is this an isolated fluke? Well…

Both the Democratic win in Iowa and the over-performances in Missouri provide additional data points supporting the irrefutable trend of Democratic success in special elections held since Trump’s election. Democrats have not only wrested four seats from Republicans, but they’ve also outperformed Democratic presidential numbers from just last fall in 24 out of 31 contested congressional and state legislative elections. Tuesday’s results bring Democrats’ improved performance average to 13 percent—sure to be an unlucky number for Republicans if they can’t improve their electoral fortunes this cycle.

I wonder what happened in November 2016 that seems to have improved Democratic MESSAGING so much. Something about the Overton Window, I’m guessing.