Joy, Jubilation, and Repudiation

A watershed moment for our country

I’ve been working in politics for 26 years, having moved to Washington, D.C. in October 2000 with hopes and dreams of working for President Al Gore. I quickly learned about the devastating disappointment of an election loss, which I felt viscerally in 2016 along with all of you.

There have been gratifying election wins since then – the 2018 midterms chief among them, which was especially sweet because it was JDCA’s first election cycle. Given that losses are inevitable in politics, I try to savor each win, and was cautiously, even nauseously, optimistic about Democrats doing well this election cycle.

I was not expecting the massive Democratic wins that swept the 2026 midterms. The sheer size of the blue tsunami is bigger than most imagined possible, and they’re still counting votes. It’s a monumental win for Democrats, including in many districts and states that had been out of reach until now. This election was a watershed moment in American politics that has reshaped the electoral map and our future.

On Tuesday night, upon recognizing that Democrats hadn’t just won back control of Congress, but won big, the JDCA staff was elated. We toasted. We danced the hora around conference tables. We went clockwise. Then counterclockwise. We wore posters as hats. Sheer joy and jubilation ensued. We are proud to have played a role in changing the direction of the country, and thrilled with our many wins.

The victory is shared with so many around the country, including all of you. We’re grateful to those who joined our leadership, staff, and campus fellows in making more than 1.2 million direct voter engagements across 23 states. We’re grateful for our members and supporters, whose investments made our advertisements in 16 states possible. Along with other Democrats, we aimed to expand the electoral map as we approached Election Day, and engaged Jewish voters in states and districts we had never been active in before.

This election wasn’t just about reclaiming control of a branch of government. This was a national repudiation of President Trump, marking the end of his unchecked power. A majority of the American people, including 72% of Jewish voters, rejected his chaos, corruption, and cruelty at the ballot box and voted to reestablish checks and balances. Trump tried to undermine, attack, and erode our democracy, and we used our most powerful democratic tool to reclaim it in the midterms.

Democrats have won 250 House seats, estimated to be closer to 259 when all votes are counted, which would mean an 83-seat majority in the House. Democrats flipped seven Senate seats – Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Maine, Iowa, and Kansas – with the possibility of wins in Alaska and Mississippi bringing the total number of Democratic Senate seats to 56.

In the gubernatorial elections, Democrats flipped five states – Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, and Georgia – with Kansas and Alaska still counting votes, which could bring the total number of gubernatorial flips to seven, making a majority of U.S. governors’ mansions and state legislatures blue. As of January, 75% of Americans will live in states with Democratic governors, and 53% will live in states with trifectas, where the state legislatures are also blue. This will directly impact how and where we vote in 2028, and other fundamental freedoms, including reproductive rights.

These elections established so many firsts that it’s hard to capture them all, but just to name a few: More than 100 Democratic women were elected to the House. At least 15 Democratic women were elected governor. Keisha Lance Bottoms will be the first Black woman to serve as governor in American history. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is poised to be the first Black speaker of the House. Five incoming senators are under 50. The Congressional Jewish Caucus will have eight new members, all Democrats (and one fewer Republican). With Amy Acton’s big win in Ohio, the number of Jewish governors has increased to seven, also all Democrats.

JDCA endorsed a record-breaking 178 candidates in this election, and 97% of them – 100% of our endorsed incumbents – won their races. These wins include 32 Democrats who flipped seats from red to blue, and eight who flipped red seats that Republicans had gerrymandered. These flips are particularly phenomenal, marking Democratic wins in seats that Republicans had intentionally redrawn to make even redder months ago. What they failed to realize is that you can’t gerrymander away widespread anger, frustration, and betrayal.

These wins were made possible by huge electoral shifts away from Republicans toward Democrats among key demographic groups, including Latino, Black, younger, and working-class voters. One segment of the electorate didn’t move at all, however, and those are Jewish voters, who continue to play a critical role as an essential component of a winning Democratic coalition.

Seventy-two percent of Jewish voters supported Democrats nationally, which is the same percentage of Jewish voters who supported Democrats in 2024 and roughly the same number as past elections, according to a poll conducted by GBAO Strategies on behalf of J Street, which it has done in every election for the past 16 years. The Jewish vote is one of the most consistent Democratic voting blocs, and that remained the case this year despite fears – and some reality – of a rising far-left.

Despite winning approximately ten House and one Senate seat, Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) and other far-left candidates will be a distinct minority in the next Congress. While some worried they might have a chokehold on a narrow House majority, they will not have that influence given the considerable size of the Democratic House and Senate Caucuses. The mainstream, moderate wing of the Democratic Party, which was instrumental in delivering Democrats’ massive election wins, grew at a much larger rate this election than the far-left. Moderates will serve as the center of gravity for the Democratic Party in the 120th Congress, especially since so many won red seats that they’ll have to defend in two years.

Last week, I had a conversation with one such Rep-elect, Katy Padilla Stout, who flipped a Republican House seat on the Texas border with Mexico. Katy, a mother of four, attorney, and former kindergarten teacher, defeated a far-right extremist and gun enthusiast. Katy’s eight-point win in one of the five seats Texas Republicans recently gerrymandered illustrates the story of this election. She’s now on her way to Washington to represent moms, teachers, farmers, and working-class communities that had been represented by Republicans for decades. Despite their partisan affiliation, the voters of TX-23 overwhelmingly voted for Katy to restore decency and justice to the government, and that is what she – along with strong Democratic majorities in the next Congress – aim to do. JDCA will be working right alongside them, ensuring the voices of Jewish Americans continue to be heard.

Thank you for joining our community and for being a part of such a meaningful and monumental election win. A special thank you to those who continue to support JDCA’s work, which will only expand in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

Shabbat Shalom,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America

P.S. – Join us for an Election Results Briefing on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. ET with Democratic strategist and founder of the Hopium Community, Simon Rosenberg; and GBAO pollster, Jim Gerstein, to break down the midterm election results, including the Jewish vote.