We had a wide ranging discussion at my Thursday morning breakfast group meeting this week. The overall subject was how the Democrats should face the 2026 mid-term elections. Three of us were in charge of pulling together material to form the basis of the conversation. We did this by assembling material from various polls and studies, the most complete one being the Pew study of the 2024 presidential election, which analyzed various trends over set periods of time. We then listed a large number of platform issues, and asked which should be included, which should be emphasized, and which should be ignored by the party in its march to take over Congress next year.

There were about 30 of us present at our in person meeting at Congregation Beth El in Bethesda. Our group is composed of older males, mostly retired, all Jewish, ranging in age from about 65 to 101. Lawyers, doctors, government officials for the most part. Some academics and, because this is Washington, relatively few businessmen. And, oh yes, also because this is Washington, no Republicans. Actually, we did have one Republican, and a fairly prominent one, but he passed away at about 90 several years ago, ending our claim to be bipartisan.

How do people join our group? We have a cap on membership, and only add someone when a vacancy occurs. We have informally appointed one individual as the entire membership committee. He has a list of people recommended by other members and, every now and then, a new face appears. This undemocratic and very efficient system works well.

The discussion at the meeting quickly veered away from detailed analyses of issues, although the issues certainly loomed in the background, and went to more strategic considerations. The conclusion was that Democrats had to target those groups who had wandered away from them and now were often voting for candidates whose positions were harmful, not helpful, to their interests. These groups included younger white males without college educations often living in rural areas. This is, in fact, the largest group.

And to get to this group, the Democrats need to have emissaries with whom single, white less educated males can identify. Yes, it is true that there are some issues that should be back peddled. Gun restrictions, DEI related issues, emphsis on trans’ rights cannot be the Democrats’ focus if these voters are to be attracted. It was assumed that over concentration on matters like that would drive away this group, and that the emphasis should be on the economy, on opportunity and on hope. It seems like this may be what the Democrats are in fact doing if the words of DNC chairman can be believed.

Our presentation, so carefully prepared, was of course affected by the Democratic victories in the elections of last Tuesday. Many of the trends emphasized by Pew seemed to have been reversed. Especially, it appeared that some of the groups that seem to be abandoning the Democrats might be coming back to the Party. Certainly, there was a change in the Hispanic vote.

The large Democratic victories were in states that supported Harris, but there were smaller victories in places like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and even Mississippi, and there were zero Republican victories anywhere.

As it seems like everything Trump is doing is hurting him politically, the Democrats now have the momentum, but a year is a long time and all sorts of things can happen.

And yes, there was talk and concern about Mamdani in New York, with regard to the Jewish population, the potential flight of wealth from the city, and the inevitable identification of Mamdani as the face of the Democrats by the Republicans. But that is for another day.

At the end of the session, we passed around a ballot with a large number of presidential possibilities listed, asking each member to pick three candidates

We have collected 20 (we hope to get the others) and the individual with the most votes was Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.

Surprising?  He fits the overall tenor of the discussion. He is white, from a red state, male, from middle America, non-threatening.

Our plan is to reprise this session in late winter or early spring to track any changes in our thinking. I will keep you informed.