Why did we lose so many Democratic voters?

(Pittsburgh Magazine, courtesy of USW)

I wrote last week about friction, which is what you experience as a Democrat in the places I used to represent. It’s impossible not to notice how dissatisfied small-town and rural western Pennsylvanians are with the national Democratic “brand.”

But people like this live all over Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan — the traditional “blue wall” — and also Ohio and Iowa, two places you might have gotten used to conceding, but which are essential for Senate control and which will become even more important after the 2030 redistricting.

I think whoever we nominate in 2028 should have a credible claim to win these people back, but framing our choice that way means talking about our shortcomings, and I suspect Democrats will be reluctant to do that. So I’ll do it here.

Consider the voters of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, in my old congressional district. At one time the county’s Aliquippa Works was the largest integrated steel mill in the world. (This is a fascinating book about the local social and political history, with a focus on high school football.) The workers and their families all voted for Democrats.