Senate Democrats who enjoyed victories even as President-elect Donald Trump won their states believe the Democratic Party can learn some lessons from their races as it grapples with losing control of Washington.
“It’s not rocket science, but talking about these issues outright, not from the faculty lounge, but from the assembly line, is, I think, a very important message,” Michigan Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, emphasizing the importance of focusing on “kitchen table issues.”
Slotkin is one of four Democratic Senate candidates who won their battleground states, thanks to a combination of ticket splitters and voters who cast ballots alone in the presidential race even as Vice President Kamala Harris lost them. For these Democrats, focusing on economic issues and their performance in Congress, and expanding their voter reach into Republican areas, was crucial to their victories.
“Personally, I think identity politics should go the way of the dodo,” Slotkin said. “People should be seen as independent Americans, whatever group they belong to, whatever party they belong to.”
Along with Slotkin, Sen.-elect Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin won their races even as Trump carried their states. The split results were rare in the polarized Trump era, with only one other senator (Susan Collins, R-Maine) winning in a state that backed the other party’s presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020.
Rosen and Baldwin also talked about criticizing their respective opponents for having deep ties to other states, essentially calling them carpetbaggers.
Despite those victories, Democrats still lost the majority in the Senate, while Republicans changed seats in Montana, Ohio and West Virginia. The Republican Party could also gain a seat in Pennsylvania. NBC News has not yet predicted a winner in the race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick, which has gone to a recount, with McCormick leading by about a quarter of a percentage point.
Democrats acknowledged that Harris faced some headwinds in waging a protracted campaign after taking over the ticket in late July.
“We were all about showing up everywhere, listening and delivering,” Baldwin said. “And I would say it’s hard to do that in 107 days. But Trump was a known figure, and he has been doing that for years.”
Gallego said he believed the Harris campaign ran “a great race,” but also said the short timeline was a problem.
“The problem was that people didn’t have enough time to find out about her,” Gallego said, adding, “I think this was going to be a tough race for whoever the nominee was, because it was – it ended up being a race on the economy,” noting that inflation in Arizona was “stubbornly high.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not directly answer a question about whether President Joe Biden should have ended his campaign earlier or whether there should have been a primary afterwards.
“I’m not going to say anything bad about Joe Biden,” Schumer said, calling him “an excellent president.” Schumer said Harris told him shortly after Biden’s announcement that she wanted and was willing to compete for the nomination in an open process.
“Right after that there was a groundswell and she was quickly nominated for a whole bunch of reasons,” Schumer said.
And while his party lost the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate, Schumer touted the Senate victories as more evidence that the party should focus on the economy.
“The lesson we learn is: economic issues are important. Direct things that impact people’s lives are important,” Schumer said. “And another lesson: how to show a lot of empathy. Sometimes Democrats may be a little too solution-oriented and people want to hear empathy first before coming to solutions. That I understand that the price of beef is much higher, and it really hurts your wallet, and it affects you, and it affects my family, it affects others. And then discuss solutions.”
“And I think these four candidates have done all that.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
