November 13, 2026
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Michael's Daily Memo
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Ten days after the midterms, Democrats have moved from counting votes to counting credit.
Third Way, the center-left think tank, says the answer is clear: “high-quality Democrats in the middle were the majority makers in 2026,” and they are the model for 2028.
Every Democrat who flipped a red Senate seat in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas ran as a mainstream or moderate Democrat. On average, they ran 21 points ahead of Kamala Harris’s 2024 margin and about 5 points ahead of their own party’s House candidates. That second number is the telling one. Beating your own party’s ticket, on the same night and the same ballot, means voters split their tickets to choose you specifically.
Roy Cooper ran 23 points ahead of Harris in North Carolina. Annie Andrews ran 22 ahead in South Carolina. Adam Hamilton, 21 ahead, becomes Kansas’s first Democratic senator in nearly a century. James Talarico ran 26 ahead and ended a 32-year Republican statewide streak in Texas. Jon Ossoff held Georgia, running 20 ahead.
The more progressive nominees, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota and Troy Jackson in Maine, ran an average of 5 points behind their party’s House vote. The Democrats running for governor in those states outran them by 4, 3 and 11 points. Same voters. Same ballot. Different results.
Then came Mississippi. This week the AP called the race for Scott Colom, a district attorney who ran on struggling farmers, utility bills and health care.
Progressives have a case too. El-Sayed won, and Jackson ousted Susan Collins. Beating Harris’s dismal red-state numbers is easier than overperforming in Michigan. And midterms are mostly a referendum on the party in power.
There’s also a 2028 catch. Centrists may win the voters who pick presidents, but primary voters pick nominees. And in closed-primary states like Pennsylvania, independents don’t get a say.
Speaking of which, we just dropped episode 8 of Can We Agree? on YouTube which features a debate on open primaries between former U.S. Senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin, and Jamal Simmons, former director of communications for Vice President Harris.
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DAILY POLL
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Is the lesson of the midterms that centrists are the Democrats’ best model for 2028?
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TOP STORY
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Alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang held stakes in Chinese firms that supplied computing power to Nvidia rival Huawei around the same time she was romantically involved with ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to intelligence firm Tesari.
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CAN WE AGREE?
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SPONSORED BY PARX CASINO
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IN OTHER NEWS
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Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced Thursday he will run for Senate Democratic leader, becoming the first to challenge Chuck Schumer and mounting what is likely the most serious test yet of Schumer's grip on the caucus ahead of a December leadership vote.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal to Spc. Thomas Iglesias, the Old Guard sentinel who publicly reprimanded Hegseth and members of his staff for laughing and chatting near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
After Democrats swept state governments in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is within reach of 270 electoral votes — but Yale law professor Akhil Reed Amar, who helped conceive the idea, now warns it could trigger constitutional chaos.
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David Schwimmer’s nostalgia-driven Quince sweater ad, inspired by a classic 'Friends' episode, has sparked backlash and calls for a boycott over the actor’s outspoken support for Jewish and Israeli causes.
A widespread Microsoft outage disrupted Outlook, Teams and other services across North America for hours Thursday, with the company deploying fixes well into the night and New York City warning residents of possible delays reaching municipal agencies.
The lingering effects of the CIA's post-9/11 interrogation program continue to complicate the government's long-stalled pursuit of justice against the accused plotters of the September 11 attacks. Years of torture, coerced confessions and political decisions have derailed efforts to bring the accused conspirators to trial, with proceedings now scheduled for June 2028.
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CARTOONS
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by Eric Allie
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MORE NEWS
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Existing home sales fell to 3.75 million in October, an 8.8% drop from a year earlier and the weakest month since 2010, as 30-year mortgage rates climbed as high as 7.40%, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Socialist congressman-elect Chris Rabb (D., Pa.) declined in a CBS News interview to condemn the recent "Bicycle Boycott" targeting Jewish businesses in his Philadelphia district, instead citing protesters' free speech rights and criticizing "awful things" said by counterprotesters.
After a years-long investigation sparked by ex-girlfriend Jemima Goldsmith and carried out by Channel 4 and The Sunday Times, Russell Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months at Southwark Crown Court for four counts of rape and sexual assault spanning 1999 to 2009. The case exposed how fame, workplace power imbalances and a culture of silence allowed his abuse to go unchecked for years, while marking a potential turning point for accountability in the entertainment industry.
For the Left
GOP Sen. Josh Hawley is urging a nationwide pause on data center construction as rising utility costs and community opposition fuel bipartisan calls for restrictions, following voters’ approval of 40 of 41 ballot measures targeting the projects.
For the Right
Right-wing influencer Nick Shirley has retracted his allegations of EBT fraud against a Seattle supermarket after learning a disputed $120 transaction was legitimate, following viral videos that sparked backlash against the family-run business.
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