There is reason to hope that the Democrats might deliver this time

In the days since the midterm elections in the United States, many commentators have argued that the “blue tsunami” signalled a popular rejection of US President Donald Trump, but not a new love for Democrats. They are right to warn that if the Democratic Party fails to deliver, it will likely face the same kind of anti-incumbent anger in the next election cycle. But this election cycle was different in remarkable ways.

To put it in plain terms, the Democrats started “sucking less” — not all of them, but a lot of them. And this recent demonstration of “sucking less” is what is presently providing me with at least an ounce of hope that the party might actually manage not to blow this historic opportunity. How did the Democrats “suck less”?

First off, there was a proliferation of progressive economic populist candidates who explicitly took on powerful corporations and positioned themselves clearly as fighters for working-class people. The economic populist insurgency within the Democratic Party gained significant ground in this cycle. Some might wonder, what took so long?