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There’s no denying the Democratic Party had a very good year at the ballot box.
Fueled by their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation, Democrats scored decisive victories in last month’s 2025 elections and overperformed throughout the year in special elections and other contests.
A year after President Donald Trump and Republicans scored sweeping victories as they won back the White House and Senate and held their razor-thin House majority, Democrats were clearly the campaign trail winners in 2025.
While they are energized heading into next year’s midterms, when they’ll try to win back congressional majorities from the Republicans, the Democrats’ 2025 performance at the ballot box doesn’t paper over the party’s underlying problems.
SETTING THE STAGE: WHAT THE 2025 ELECTIONS MEAN FOR NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERM BATTLES
Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger celebrates her victory as she takes the stage during her election night rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center on Nov. 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
From a state Senate election victory in Iowa in January, just eight days after Trump kicked off his second term in the White House, to this month’s win in Miami’s mayoral election, the party’s first in a quarter-century, Democrats had plenty to celebrate this year on the campaign trail.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), in a year-end memo, touted that “Democrats won or overperformed in 227 out of 255 key elections.”
“As Democrats enter the midterm year, our party should feel buoyed by the strong results we’ve seen up and down the ballot all year long. Across red, purple, and blue states, Democrats have gotten off the mat and proven that when you organize everywhere, you can win anywhere,” the DNC emphasized.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE 2025 ELECTIONS
But Democrats are still staring down a brand that remains in the gutter, with historically low approval and favorable numbers.
Among the most recent figures to grab headlines: Only 18% of voters questioned in a Quinnipiac University survey in December said they approved of the way congressional Democrats were handling their job, while 73% disapproved.
That’s the lowest job approval rating for the Democrats in Congress since the Quinnipiac University Poll began asking this question 16 years ago.
“Voters have rendered a brutal verdict on the Democrat brand — just 18 percent approval after years of Biden-era failure. Democrats have made clear that a 2026 majority would mean sham impeachment attacks and pure chaos,” Republican National Committee (RNC) national press secretary Kiersten Pels argued in a statement last week.
DNC Chair Ken Martin acknowledged the “brand problem,” telling Fox News Digital this past summer that the party’s image had “hit rock bottom.”
But he emphasized that “there’s only one direction to go, and that’s up, and that’s what we’re doing.”
While clearly motivated following this year’s election victories, the DNC still faces a massive fundraising deficit in its campaign cash race with the rival RNC.
And the party divide between progressives and moderates remains on the front-burner heading into next year’s midterms.
SENATE GOP CAMPAIGN CHAIR REVEALS 2026 MIDTERM STRATEGY
The Democrats overperformed in early December’s special congressional election in a GOP-dominated seat in Tennessee — losing by nine points in a district that Trump carried by 22 points just a year ago,
But there were plenty of centrist Democrats who argued that state Rep. Aftyn Behn, the Democratic nominee in the race, was too far to the left for the district.
Republicans repeatedly attacked Behn over her paper trail of past comments on defunding the police.
Democratic nominee State Rep. Aftyn Behn speaks to supporters at a watch party after losing a special election for the U.S. seventh congressional district, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)
And the Senate campaign launched this month in red-leaning Texas by Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a progressive champion and vocal Trump critic and foil, compounded the argument by centrists.
Her entry into the race gave the GOP instant ammunition to paint Democrats as far-left extremists. And along with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, it handed the Republicans another far-left politician to use as a political cudgel.
‘FULL-BLOWN BATTLE’ BREWING IN DEM PARTY AS MAMDANI-STYLE CANDIDATES RISE IN KEY RACES
“All across the country, what we’re seeing is Jasmine is being repeated, replicated all across the country,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott claimed in a Fox News Digital interview. “Socialism is in vogue in the Democrat Party.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks after announcing her run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Dallas. (LM Otero/AP Photo)
But it’s not just Republicans ringing alarms.
“The Democratic Party’s aspirations to win statewide in a red state like Texas simply don’t exist without a centrist Democrat who can build a winning coalition of ideologically diverse voters,” Liam Kerr, co-founder of the Welcome PAC, a group which advocates for moderate Democratic candidates, argued in a statement to Fox News Digital.
And the center-left Third Way, in a memo following the Tennessee special election, argued, “If far-left groups want to help save American democracy, they should stop pushing their candidates in swing districts and costing us flippable seats.”
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But Martin sees a silver lining, as he pointed to “the great breadth of our party.”
“We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have progressives and we have leftists. And I’ve always said that you win elections through addition, not subtraction. You win by bringing people into your coalition and growing your party,” Martin emphasized.
