It’s Always More Fun to Win

By Don Mohler

The scene is always the same at the end of a World Series. Members of the winning team become seven years old again as they rush the field to jump on top of one another, rip their jerseys off, and throw their caps in the air. The celebration continues in the clubhouse where young men douse themselves in champagne, spilling more than they consume.

In the other dugout, the scene is quite different. Players stare off into the darkness, looking as if their dog had just been run over by a truck. They sit in total silence with a look that says, “What the hell just happened, and where do we go from here?”  That’s when I usually turn to Linda and say, “Do you think winning beats losing?”

Tuesday, November 3, 2026 was the political equivalent of the baseball classic, and the reactions were very much the same. There were winners and losers, and as always, it is better to win. Who won? Who lost?

Winners:

The Men and Women of Minneapolis – It was January 27, 2026. The low temperature in Minneapolis, Minnesota that day was -21 degrees, the lowest registered reading in over seven years. And yet the people of Minnesota took to the streets in droves in the streets to protest the murder of Renée Good and the subsequent shooting of Alex Pretti. Braving a brutal Midwest winter, Minnesotans refused to stay silent. A nation watched every night on their television screens as men and women came from all over the state to say, “Enough is enough.” They were not radicals. They were not terrorists. They were moms and dads, grandmoms and grandads, young and old, white, black, and brown. They were straight. And they were gay. They were not the “others.” They were us. What started as localized grief in Minneapolis quickly galvanized a nation. Their unrelenting peaceful resistance transformed cold streets into the epicenter of a national movement for accountability, proving that grassroots democracy can withstand any storm. These braves souls were indeed the canary in the coal mine.

African American Voters – Facing the ongoing dismantling of the Voting Rights Act in Congress and aggressive gerrymandering targeting Black representation across the nation, Black voters responded not with apathy, but with overwhelming turnout in 2026. Despite Republican efforts to gerrymander districts diluting the representation of African Americans in Congress, voters showed up in unprecedented numbers to gain victories. They turned Georgia if not blue then at minimum a deep, deep shade of purple, while making historic gains in South Carolina, and Mississippi. They even helped democrats come within a whisker of upsets in Florida. When faced with Jim Crow attacks on their right to vote, African American voters shouted proudly in one voice, “Hell no.” African Americans are clearly the key to the future the Democratic Party and an indispensable electoral force.

Stacey Abrams and Beto O’Rourke – Not to get lost in the euphoria is the significance of the foundational and inspirational efforts of Stacey Abrams and Beto O’Rourke. Though neither sought office this year, their structural work in Georgia and Texas laid the groundwork for historical breakthroughs. Abrams’ years of grassroots infrastructure building in Atlanta expanded and energized an electorate that ultimately vaulted Keisha Lance Bottoms to a historic victory. Similarly, O’Rourke’s continuous multi-county organizing transformed Texas’s competitive baseline, establishing the donor networks, field operations, and voter registration pipelines that James Talarico leveraged to win his Senate race. They proved that going into communities and listening to folks about their hopes and dreams is what actually drives systemic political shifts. Look out Ted “Cancun” Cruz, here we come.

The Way Florida Counts Its Votes– Once again the prize for doing what should be the easiest thing of all- counting the votes- goes to the sunshine state of Florida. Home to over 13.7 million registered voters, the state processed over 8.3 million votes in less than two hours. Florida’s speed is no accident—it allows election officials to begin processing and tabulating mail-in and early voting ballots weeks before Election Day. It requires mail ballots to arrive by poll-close rather than accepting postmarked delays. By eliminating multi-day tallying delays, the “Florida model” provides a proven blueprint for electoral transparency and operational efficiency that lagging states across the country ought to adopt. Here is something you will rarely hear me say, “Well done Florida.”  Come on people. Can we please mandate these procedures in other states? It’s good for democracy. Duh!

 Losers:

The MAGA Movement– The fever finally broke. After a decade of grievance and division, a stake was finally jammed through the heart of the racism, misogyny, hatred, and division that was imbedded deep in the MAGA heart. Voters rejected the cruelty that had come to define the era—from hardline immigration enforcement to aggressive culture-war politics. Defeats in high-profile races, including Vivek Ramaswamy’s loss in the Ohio gubernatorial contest and losses in conservative strongholds like South Carolina and likely Mississippi, signaled a clear demand for decency and stability over grievance, effectively breaking MAGA’s stranglehold on American politics.

Republican Efforts to Attract Hispanic Voters – In the late 1990s, Republican strategist Karl Rove famously opined that, “Hispanic voters are Republicans. They just don’t know it yet.” The Bush mastermind was confident that the Hispanic vote was about to become the base of the Republican Party, much in the way that African Americans has been the base for Democrats for time immemorial. After making historical inroads in 2024, it looked as if Rove’s dream was becoming a reality. Ooopsie. Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and the entire band of misfit toys predictably decided to overplay its hand. Why? Because that is who they are. Aggressive immigration enforcement and cost-of-living pressures drove Hispanic voters back to Democrats in droves. Democratic House candidates reclaimed 67% of the Latino vote—a 10-point rebound over 2024—while capturing decisive majorities in key Senate and gubernatorial contests. The retreat was most striking in heavily Hispanic regions: in the Texas Senate race, Democrat James Talarico won roughly 6 in 10 Hispanic voters over Ken Paxton. As it turned out, Americans, and overwhelmingly Latino voters, were not crazy about deporting the local minister, the family who made the donuts in the morning, and the men and women who cut their lawns and shoveled their snow. Go figure.

The Republican Electoral Map – Texas. Georgia. North Carolina. Ohio. Iowa. South Carolina. Mississippi. And perhaps even Florida. If I’m dreaming, don’t wake me up. The 2028 Presidential definition of swing state and electoral math was just turned upside down. Adding Texas (40 electoral votes) alongside former swing strongholds Florida (30), Ohio (17), and Iowa (6) would completely rewrite the modern presidential landscape. Together, these four states control 93 electoral votes, matching the combined power of all seven current battlegrounds. Let’s throw in South Carolina and Mississippi for giggles. If Texas is truly competitive, it breaks the long-standing Republican reliance on these traditional sunbelt and heartland block votes as the bedrocks of a republican presidential victory. Democrats would gain multiple pathways to 270 without needing to sweep the Rust Belt, while Republicans would be forced into high-stakes defense across massive media markets. Ultimately, a shifting Texas recalibrates the entire national strategy. In other words, it’s game on.

Elon Musk – $500 million dollars. Let me repeat that: $500 million dollars. And then there was the cherry on the sundae: Tesla announcing that it would stop making the ugliest car to ever come off an assembly line, the cyber truck. Elon, come out, come out wherever you are.

So, there you have it. It has indeed been a sunny week. Now it’s up to the democrats to deliver- no mumbo jumbo, just decisive action. Don’t forget, Americans can get angry- they just did- and they can get angry again in two years. Get to work.

Don Mohler is the former Baltimore County Executive and is currently President and CEO of Mohler Communication Strategies. He may be reached at don@donmohler.com