Summary
Overview
Dan Pfeiffer interviews David Axelrod about the 2026 midterms and potential 2028 presidential candidates. They discuss Democratic Senate races across multiple battleground states, analyze the Maine Senate primary upset, debate the Texas governor's race, and evaluate several potential Democratic presidential contenders including AOC, Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, and Jon Ossoff. Axelrod argues Democrats need an outsider candidate focused on structural reform rather than restoration politics.
Anti-Establishment Wave and Maine Senate Race
Axelrod explains how anti-establishment sentiment drove Isaac Plattner's stunning upset victory over Janet Mills in Maine's Democratic Senate primary. He argues voters are jaundiced about the status quo, with 70% believing the system is corrupt and rigged against them. Mills represented the Washington establishment, was endorsed by Schumer, and would have been 79 when sworn in—embodying everything voters are rejecting after two octogenarian presidents.
- 70% of people in polling say the system is corrupt and rigged against them
- Establishment candidates are at a disadvantage in this anti-establishment moment
- Janet Mills had the stamp of Senator Schumer certifying her as the establishment candidate
- Mills would have been 79 years old when sworn in, adding to concerns about gerontocracy
- Plattner had done more than 50 town hall meetings while Mills had done close to zero
" One of the reasons he won was because his campaign was a full out critique of Washington generally, not just the Republicans, but Democrats as well and the sort of red, red, blue, who's up, who's down kind of struggle for power that had nothing to do with people's lives or principal concerns. "
" Don't let yourself get talked into running for an office you don't want to run for because it's never going to end well. You're not going to be an effective candidate. "
Trump's Corruption and Latino Voter Shifts in Texas
The discussion turns to Texas, where James Talarico is running for governor with Obama's support. Axelrod notes Trump has dealt away his advantages with Hispanic voters through ICE enforcement and economic failures. Trump's approval among Latino Trump voters has dropped 30 points since Election Day, creating opportunities in Texas and potentially preventing Republicans from capturing gerrymandered seats they expected to win.
- Trump's corruption is on a scale nobody's ever seen before
- The two biggest losses in support for Trump have been among Hispanics and young people
- Latino voters in South Texas were eager for border control but not eager to be racially profiled
- Trump's approval rating among Latino Trump voters is down 30 points since Election Day 2024
- Talarico got 2-3 times the primary votes Kamala Harris got in Rio Grande Valley counties
" We are awash in money and dark money and pernicious influence, and it all conspires against working people. This is one place where he says nobody's ever seen anything like this before. He's right about this. Nobody's ever seen corruption at this scale before. "
" You can't like violate many of the major Ten Commandments and then start going after someone else over their Christianity. "
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