Ofirah Yheskel: I think Republicans have really shown themselves to be unwilling to do anything that will help the American people on costs. And I think the federal shutdown right now is just another exhibit of that. It’s Democrats right now who are fighting to protect people and make sure that their health care premiums don’t go skyrocketing, and I think the American people have taken notice of that.
Colin Seeberger: Hey everyone, welcome back to “The Tent,” your place for politics, policy, and progress. I’m your host, Colin Seeberger. That was Ofirah Yheskel, director of external affairs at the Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA).
The 2025 elections took place on Tuesday, and while it may be an off year, there was no shortage of high-profile campaigns to watch—from gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia to the redistricting fight in California, and of course the highly anticipated mayoral race in New York City. Political junkies across the country stayed up late to analyze and debate what the results could mean for next year’s midterms and the future of American politics.
Ofirah and I compared notes on how it all went down, and we discussed how the ongoing government shutdown and cost-of-living crisis are impacting those races. And stick around after the interview for a moment of joy because it’s time for a football and baseball update, folks.
Seeberger: Ofirah Yheskel is the director of external affairs at the Democratic Governor’s Association. She previously served as the Democratic National Committee’s deputy communications director and has worked across presidential and statewide races, including Beto O’Rourke’s and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns.
Ofirah Yheskel, welcome to the pod.
Yheskel: Thanks for having me.
Seeberger: And on an exciting day, no less!
Yheskel: We’re really fired up over at the DGA about everything last night.
Seeberger: I bet you are. Last night was a big election night across the country, with big gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey, the ballot referendum for Proposition 50 in California, and of course the big mayoral election in New York City.
Can you break down the results for us? What did we see? What were your main takeaways? Personally, I haven’t felt this good in a very long time.
Yheskel: We’re all libbing out.
Yheskel: No, we’re still digging into some of the things, but I think a lot of positive news for Democrats. We saw last night, I think, in almost every county in Virginia or New Jersey, there was movement towards Democrats, which is really affirming.
And I think that’s because Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill in particular ran races that were deeply focused on the economy and affordability and hammered that relentlessly over the course of this campaign. And they were running against two Republicans—Jack Ciattarelli and Winsome Earle-Sears—who were really hesitant to make any daylight with Trump. And as we know, his agenda has been toxic for the American people. He’s been ripping away their health care, has been raising costs. And that lane on affordability in the economy was open to both Mikie and Abigail because Trump, as we all remember, promised on day one he was going to lower costs for the American people, and he just has failed to live up to that.
So we’re really happy, obviously, with the results last night. And the two wins that we have in Virginia and New Jersey will bring us to 24 Democratic governors in this country. The last time Trump was in office in 2017, we had around 15, so that’s a really big jump. We’re feeling some good momentum on that as a party.
And then I think the other point I would make is it brings us up to a historic 10 women Democratic governors in this country, up from the eight that we have now. So we made a lot of history, I think, despite some historical precedent in New Jersey. I think the headwinds were kind of against us.
Yheskel: For the first time now, we’ve elected a Democratic governor for three consecutive terms in New Jersey in 60 years. That’s pretty remarkable. And I know Republicans today are trying to spin the results as a lot of success in already blue places. Simply not the case. Republicans dumped a lot of money into these races, thought they’d be competitive, and they were huge, huge landslides for Abigail and Mikie that I think send a real resounding message across the country about how people feel about Republican leadership.
Seeberger: No doubt. I am particularly curious because these candidates, Sherrill and Spanberger, not only successful—they got across the finish line, they’re going to be historic governors—but they also managed to win by even larger margins than—look back to 2017 in Virginia, former Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who everybody was talking about, “Oh my gosh, this election victory is so massive. It’s portending huge signs for what Democrats are going to be finding in 2018 in the midterms.”
Sherrill, like you said, coming off of having the New Jersey gubernatorial. Manchin, the state legislature for an extended period of time. The headwinds were running in their face, but both of them were not just able to win, they were able to win big.
What is it that you think that Democratic candidates and campaigns looking to next year should be taking away from these candidates as successful tactics or strategies in order to have the same outcome?
Yheskel: Well we didn’t cover this in my bio, Colin, but in 2017 I actually worked on that governor’s race in Virginia. And election night, the result came even earlier last night than it did when we were in Virginia in 2017.
So I thought that was really exciting that people, I think, overwhelmingly were making it clear they want candidates who are focused on lowering costs for them in their day-to-day lives. And I think where Mikie and Abigail really excelled was rolling out plans for how they were going to address that—that they listened to voters in their states, and they rolled out plans that that really made sense for them.
And Mikie, I’ll just point to her, had a really creative, I think, strong plan for declaring a day one state of emergency on utility prices. And as we were talking to voters in New Jersey, that was a huge, huge issue in their minds and in their day-to-day lives.
I had talked to a voter in New Jersey a couple weeks ago who told me that her utility bill was over $1,000 last month. I think when people are already grappling with huge, huge costs, higher costs right now, I know that’s on everyone’s mind. Your utility bill being that high, I think, is really troubling. And she, in stark contrast to Jack Ciattarelli, had a plan to do something about it.
And the same for Abigail. She rolled out plans to lower your housing costs, your energy costs, your health care costs—things that are really, I think, on the minds of everyday people. And that’s been a winning playbook for us at the DGA: really working to address kitchen-table issues that people are telling us that are really hitting home with them, but also standing up for their fundamental freedoms. And I think on both those counts, Jack Ciattarelli and Winsome Sears really failed to show up.
Seeberger: So I’m curious to ask you, these elections happened against a backdrop of an ongoing government shutdown over the course of the last five weeks—that shutdown really centering on a focus of the health care crisis that President Trump, Republicans in Congress have put the country on a trajectory toward extending into 2026.
I am curious: Do you think that the results of the election on Tuesday were a referendum on the Republicans’ posture on this government shutdown— refusal to negotiate to lower health care premiums that are set to double for tens of millions of Americans? And if so, why do you think that?
Yheskel: I think Republicans have really shown themselves to be unwilling to do anything that will help the American people on costs. And I think the federal shutdown right now is just another exhibit of that.
It’s Democrats right now who are fighting to protect people and make sure that their health care premiums don’t go skyrocketing, and I think the American people have taken notice of that. And I think it’s, again, just another part and parcel of Republicans numbing themselves or trying to inure themselves to what voters are clearly telling them they want to see action on.
And I think voters also recognize that it’s Republicans who are in control of Washington, D.C. And so when we were looking at these two races, even though both Jack Ciattarelli and Winsome Sears are not in Washington, D.C., did not vote for the one big ugly bill, they would not raise their voices about what the Trump administration and what Republicans in D.C. were doing to hurt people in their states—whether it is on the federal shutdown, whether it’s Trump on the Gateway Tunnel funding that he was stopping, which is a critical infrastructure project for New Jersey. 100,000 New Jersey jobs would’ve been on the line.
And Virginia, as we know, is deeply impacted by shutdowns. And the DOGE layoffs that he and Elon Musk decided to undertake had a huge impact on Virginia’s economy. And he was trying to use the shutdown to do what we were saying was “DOGE 2.0”: lay off even more people. Winsome Sears and Jack Ciattarelli were nowhere to be found on that.
And I think it was just another example of why selecting good leaders, Democratic leaders, really does matter right now. I think people are understanding more than ever that who your governor is really does matter, and you want somebody who’s going to fight for you. And I think Republicans have abdicated that position.
Seeberger: Yeah. I mean, I feel like the president in particular, over the course of the last six weeks or so, has just been demonstrating an incredible aloofness, almost. I feel like whether it is the handing $40 billion to Argentina; the White House ballroom project; the ripping nutrition assistance out of the mouths of tens of billions of Americans at the same time you’re throwing a Halloween costume party, Great Gatsby costume party—it is just breathtaking, I think, the extent to which there is this huge cleave between the White House, as the president is saying things are beautiful on inflation and it’s all solved, and at the same time, the message that the American people sent yesterday.
On a different topic, we also saw Zohran Mamdani (D), the mayor-elect of New York City, was able to eke out a victory yesterday. We saw also, of course, governor-elect Spanberger, governor-elect Sherrill win. There’s some ideological differences there, right? What is going to work in New York City, not necessarily going to work in Virginia.
But what is your big takeaway for the party, given there are these different paths that folks are following who are stepping up into positions of leadership?
Yheskel: I think it’s really important, one, that folks are running races that are authentic to them in the states that they’re in, and I think both Mikie and Abigail did that in spades. Both of them are, I think, people who flipped districts from red to blue in 2018; showed they can work across the aisle to deliver results for people in their states; and then, also, rolled out these plans that were speaking to what everybody cares about, which was the economy, the economy, the economy.
And so I think if there was a recommendation I was going to make to people ahead of the midterms and why I think we feel a lot of momentum and energy heading into the 36 races we have next year is because I think this is a really replicable playbook for Democrats to be able to roll out plans and really speak directly to people about how you’re going to fix their bottom line and put money back in their pockets.
And luckily, I think folks running for governor, specifically Democratic candidates, really have an ability to not just show but also tell what they’re going to do for you and how they’re going to accomplish that. We have the receipts, as I like to say; we like to say Democratic governors get stuff done. So I think it’s a real platform for people to pull from.
Seeberger: You mentioned the big ugly bill, Trump’s marquee legislation this Congress, and how it was or was not a factor in the races that you guys were closely following.
I know that there have been hospital closure announcements that have happened in western Virginia. I know that there’s utility rate increase announcements that are happening following Republicans ending a bunch of energy projects.
I am curious to get your take on, how were voters responding to—besides tariffs, it is the only other big policy that Trump and the Republicans have done. I’ve seen the polling doesn’t look good, but how did that actually resonate in the field?
Yheskel: I think really strongly. And it’s really interesting—Winsome Sears and Jack Ciattarelli are obviously not members of Congress, did not vote for the big ugly bill. But I think we were able to successfully tie them to that and the impacts of it because they just refused to break with Trump in any meaningful way.
And in Virginia, I think that really hit home with the rural health care clinics that you mentioned that closed. Three of them did, and they specifically cited the Medicaid cuts that were coming from the big ugly bill as the reason. And I think that is the canary in the coal mine.
I think we’re going to see more of that across the country, unfortunately, as these Medicaid cuts that they’ve put in to fund tax cuts for billionaires start to take effect in this country. And I think it just goes to show, again, they’re not folks who are thinking about how they can help people. And again, the ACA fight, I think, right now on protecting health care premiums is another exhibit of that.
But I do think, in both these states, the big ugly bill was baggage for them. And I think their unwillingness to break with Trump was another. He really has been taking action that hurts people in New Jersey and Virginia, and I think it was disqualifying—it finally ended up being—that they were unwilling to say anything about it.
Seeberger: So you mentioned this early on, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) of California scored a massive win yesterday with passage of Proposition 50, bringing the fight back to Republicans who, following Donald Trump’s orders, Republicans in Texas rigged their map, passed a mid-decade gerrymander to hand five seats to Republicans—coincidentally after passing that big ugly bill that is deeply unpopular, knowing that they’re going to have to take that case to voters. Good luck.
So Gov. Newsom really took a gamble, put his political capital on the line, and said, “No, we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight back. We’re not going to let a wannabe autocrat rig the system in his favor and deny voters the ability to hold their elected officials accountable.”
So can you break down, what does Prop 50 do? Why does it matter? And what should other Democratic leaders, governors, state lawmakers, how should they be reading the results of Prop 50?
Yheskel: Well I think we’re really proud, obviously, of Gov. Newsom’s leadership at the DGA. And I think if we zoom out of why this even had to happen, it’s because, I think, President Trump and Republicans are recognizing that they have a really toxic, unpopular agenda that the American people are not in favor of, as we saw again last night.
And that’s why President Trump decided to call Gov. Greg Abbott (R), in my home state of Texas, and ask him to find him five seats so he could try to offset what I think they see as a problem for them in the midterms. And I don’t think they expected that governors like Gavin Newsom would meet them in kind.
And so Proposition 50 was a ballot initiative that was on the ballot yesterday that was designed for them to respond in kind to what Republicans are trying to do to essentially rig the midterms and not have to face accountability from the American people. And just the other day, I saw this week that Gov. [Wes] Moore (D) in Maryland also announced a commission in Maryland to take a look at it. And so I think we might see that Republicans might regret taking us down this path.
Seeberger: Yeah. There’s a real irony here. Texas Republicans drew these new maps, passed them into law. They will be the maps in 2026. Yet if you look at the election results from last night, they, in wiping out districts where Democrats were currently holding seats, have narrowed the margins of some of these seats so they’re just Trump +5. It may end up blowing up in their face. It will be something I will be watching quite closely.
I am also curious—we saw some trends that started or came most to the fore in 2024, a real erosion of support for Democrats and Vice President Harris among particularly young men, Latino voters.
We saw not just were those gains by President Trump wiped out, we saw, in the case of New Jersey, Sherrill was actually outperforming Biden’s numbers from 2020 among some of these constituencies.
So I’m curious, why do you think Spanberger and Sherrill were very successful? Zohran Mamdani, I saw, I think won young men by 40 points or something like that. Why do you think their message ended up resonating with those constituencies? And how did they go about building a relationship with those groups in that way? What should Democrats who are running next year, how should they be thinking about learning from some of those lessons?
Yheskel: I know I keep saying this, but I think the economic message was really critical. And I think both Abigail and Mikie were really serious about making sure they got all across their state and delivering that to every single person. And like you said, we saw key swings across young voters, young men specifically, Latino voters, women. Democratic base voters had huge turnout yesterday. I think all that really is reflective of how powerful the economic message was.
But I also would say, you know, Jack Ciattarelli and Winsome Sears simply did not campaign in the same way. I know that in some of the paid advertising that Jack Ciattarelli did specifically exempted Latino and Black voters from that paid outreach. And I think that was a critical, critical mistake on his part.
But also, I think, to Abigail and Mikie’s credit, really took it seriously that they were traveling around. Both of them did these incredible bus tours that went all around their states. The paid communication, I think, was extensive and real and creative. I think it was really targeted and smart. But I think it always did come back to the economy and affordability. And I think if we’ve learned anything from the last couple of years, it’s that that really is the top issue for people and that they want to hear a serious plan about how you’re going to put money back in their pockets.
Seeberger: I think that is especially true and powerful when you consider the fact that in Winsome Sears’ case, the ad that she spent the most money on against Spanberger was an anti-trans ad, right? And yet I saw polls leading into the election, exit polls seemed to indicate that like it was nowhere on the map of what voters were actually identifying as a chief anxiety among theirs.
And so I think it’s a reminder that that economic message can also, for Democrats who are feeling under attack on some of these other cultural issues, may be able to beat back on some of those attacks by really keeping a focus and staying consistently lasered in on the chief anxieties of voters.
So, it’s 2025. Next year is going to be a big year for the DGA, hopefully. I’m curious, can you tell us a little bit about some candidates that you’re working with that you think are really exciting leaders, people who maybe are facing tough reelections, or trying to take on a Republican incumbent? What do you got?
Yheskel: Gosh, it’s a big map. Next year we have 36 governor’s races—
Yheskel: —which is hard for me to even wrap my mind around. But really excited and feel like last night was a huge, huge part of the momentum and energy that we have heading into next year.
For the DGA, protecting our 11 incumbents is the north star. Governors that you guys might be familiar with, like Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Tim Walz in Minnesota, Gov. Pritzker in Illinois—we’re going to channel a lot of our energy into making sure that people understand why it’s so important to reelect them.
Then we have six open seats for governors who are term limited—so Michigan, Wisconsin, places like that—where we think we have the opportunity to keep those blue. We’re neutral in primary, so I can’t pick favorites, but we do have a lot of exciting folks in places that we think we could expand the map.
Georgia is a place we’ve got a competitive primary on the Democratic side. I think we’ll end up with a really strong nominee. Iowa looks exciting to us. Nevada is a top pickup opportunity for us. Joe Lombardo is a really, I think, sensitive Republican incumbent who we could potentially have a flip opportunity for.
So we see a lot of opportunity to go on offense and expand the map. Really exciting for DGA next year.
Seeberger: I know you guys are going to be busy. Well, Ofirah, thanks for joining us. Very busy week indeed.
Yheskel: Thanks for having me.
Seeberger: I appreciate you making time, and we will talk to talk to you guys soon. Hopefully you’ll come back next year and let us know how some of these races are playing out.
Seeberger: All right, folks, that’s going to do it for us this week. Please go back and check out previous episodes.
I am super psyched to be back and talking with you all this week because I just had a few days off where I ventured home to Texas, visited my family. Had to give the grandparents some quality time with my daughter.
But I also got to go see the Texas Longhorns defeat Vanderbilt in what was a really great game for about 3 1/2 quarters. And then the back half of the fourth quarter, the refs just completely tried to screw the Longhorns. It ended up being a nailbiter three-point victory for the Longhorns.
But it was my first time going to a Longhorn game, and I’ve got to say, so much fun. I will definitely be back. Highly recommend if you get a chance to make it to Austin. Do recommend. It’s a Saturday in America during college football season. It’s got to make your list.
But I also wanted to talk about the World Series, which came to a close on Sunday after an incredible not just seventh game but really entire series between the LA Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays. I definitely must confess that I was rooting for the Blue Jays. That just, it felt appropriate in 2025. I also really love Max Scherzer, former Washington Nationals player. Also former Texas Rangers player, which was my hometown baseball team growing up. So it was super fun watching him. But really across the board, both teams really locked in. And I can’t say I’ve had this much fun watching baseball in probably close to a decade.
So it’s an exciting time if you’re a sports fan in America. We just capped off the major league baseball end of season, but we’re in the thick of the NFL season. NHL and NBA, rocking and rolling here. We’re less than a hundred days away from the Winter Olympics, which, if you are like me, you are a massive Olympics fan. So definitely getting psyched for that. It is a welcome reprieve this year. So is the hopium high that I feel like I’m feeling after this week’s election results. So with that, enjoy your hopium high, and we’ll talk to you next week.
Seeberger: “The Tent” is a podcast from the Center for American Progress Action Fund. It’s hosted by me, Colin Seeberger. Muggs Leone is our digital producer. Kelly McCoy is our supervising producer. Mishka Espey is our booking producer. Hai Phan, Olivia Mowry, and Toni Pandolfo are our video team.
You can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.