Imagine Winning Two-Thirds of both houses of Congress

Imagine controlling two-thirds of both houses of Congress. Democrats could bypass the Senate filibuster. Presidential vetoes could be overridden. Most importantly, presidents, cabinet members, and federal judges who are found guilty of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors could be removed from office. In other words, Democrats could run the country.

Most Americans Don’t Like Republican Leaders or Republican Policies

In the new millennium, Republicans have won the presidency and both houses of Congress four times in seven presidential elections.[i] [ii] Remarkably, they did it without strong presidential candidates. Donald Trump and George W. Bush lack the appeal of General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan. Further, most voters oppose Republican’s signature policies such as: tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations, depriving women of reproductive rights, opposing increases the minimum wage, and starting forever wars, among others. [iii] [iv] [v]

The secret to their success: Republicans prioritize winning over policy.

In the late 1970s, after decades of defeat, the Republican Party approached conservative Christians and asked to join forces. Conservative Christians were so disenchanted with Supreme Court rulings that legalized abortion and banned prayer in school that 70 percent of America’s 50 to 60 million conservative Christians did not vote in the 1976 presidential election. Conservative Christians agreed under one condition; Republicans had to support conservative Christian orthodoxy. Their top priority: overturn Roe v. Wade. [vi]

This was a big ask because leading Republicans supported women’s reproductive rights. Five Republican-nominated Supreme Court Justices voted with the majority in Roe, and many Republican leaders were pro-choice including: Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Nelson Rockefeller.[vii] [viii] As Governor, Ronald Reagan signed the 1967 law that legalized abortion in California. However, in 1980, presidential candidate Reagan promised to overturn Roe.

For over four decades, overturning Roe was a core mission of the Republican Party.[ix] They failed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey in 1992.[x] At the time, several Republican governors were pro-choice.[xi] Hardline anti-abortion activists regrouped. In 2022, Roe was overturned in the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling.[xii] By then, there were no Republican pro-choice governors.[xiii]

Republicans built a machine that wins elections.

Over the last few decades, Republicans have turned blue and purple states into red states, particularly in the 2,500 miles between California and New York. In 1996, Bill Clinton won the Blue Wall states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, plus Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.[xiv] In 2012, Barack Obama won the Blue Wall states plus Ohio, Florida, and Iowa.[xv] In the last three presidential elections, the Democrats lost the Florida, Ohio, and Iowa in each election, and Blue Wall states twice. [xvi] [xvii] [xviii] Colorado is the only state in the 2,500-mile middle that has turned blue and remained blue. [xix] 

To achieve this level of success, Republicans adopted an important core mission that they had previously opposed. Republicans prioritize winning over policy.

A Federation without a Mission

The Democratic Party does not have a core mission. The party is more like a federation of independent individuals and groups that each support whichever policies they choose. Nearly all Democrats support several policies that most Americans also support: remove big money from politics, reduce healthcare costs, reduce housing costs, raise the minimum wage, tax the super-wealthy, ban partisan gerrymandering, and restore women’s reproductive rights. [xx] [xxi] [xxii] [xxiii] [xxiv] [xxv] [xxvi] However, Democrats disagree on other issues, and the disagreements have prevented Democrats from coming together and applying all their effort to winning general elections.[xxvii] The 2024 election was the latest example.

This is a problem because to have power, a political party must be in power.

Recommended Mission for Democrats

This paper recommends that Democrats establish an overriding mission: win two-thirds of both houses of Congress.

Success will require Democrats to prioritize winning over policy. Finally, because of the mess the Trump administration has made, winning two-thirds of both houses of Congress is possible and necessary.

[i]     Tom Murse, “The Political Makeup of Congress,” ThoughtCo, October 18, 2019, https://www.thoughtco.com/the-political-makeup-of-congress-3368266#:~:text=106th%20Congress%20%E2%80%93%201999%20and%202000%20*,held%2055%20seats%2C%20Democrats%20held%2045%20seats.

[ii]     Rachel Looker, “Republicans win control of House, cementing control of Washington, BBC, November 14, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04ld19vlg6o

[iii]      Eli Yokley, “Ahead of GOP Tax Fight, Republican Voters Increasingly Want to See the Rich Pay More,” Morning Consult, April 16, 2025, https://pro.morningconsult.com/analysis/trump-tax-cuts-republican-voters-april-2025

[iv]     Nava Frieberg, “Poll shows most Americans disapprove of US joining Iran war; half see Tehran as ‘enemy’ and another 25% as ‘unfriendly’,” The Times of Israel, June 18, 2025, https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/poll-shows-most-americans-disapprove-of-us-joining-iran-war-half-see-tehran-as-enemy/.

[v]      Alison Durkee, “How Americans Really Feel About Abortion: The Sometimes Surprising Poll Results One Year After Roe Overturned,” Forbes, June 26, 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/06/26/how-americans-really-feel-about-abortion-the-sometimes-surprising-poll-results-one-year-after-roe-overturned/?sh=5455ee7b5ea3.

[vi]     Anne Nelson, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011).

[vii]     “Roe v. Wade and Supreme Court Abortion Cases,” Brennan Center for Justice, Brennan Center for Justice, September 28, 2022, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/roe-v-wade-and-supreme-court-abortion-cases#:~:text=justices'%20abortion%20views-,Is%20abortion%20a%20constitutional%20right%3F,a%20constitutional%20right%20to%20abortion

[viii]     Sue Halpern, “How Republicans Became Anti-Choice,” New York Review, November 18,2018, https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/08/how-republicans-became-anti-choice/#:~:text=But%20in%20the%20late%201960s,said%2C%20should%20not%20be%20involved.

[ix]     Nelson, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right, see note 1.

[x]     “Justices Serving on the Court 1990 – 2009,” Oregon State University, Civil Rights and Liberties, accessed May 6, 2025,  https://open.oregonstate.education/civilrights/back-matter/justices-1990-2009/.

[xi]    Stuart Stevens, The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy, (Twelve Hachette Book Club, 2023)

[xii]     Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Tyranny of the Minority (Random House, 2023).

[xiii]     Stevens, The Conspiracy to End America: Five Ways My Old Party is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy, see note xvi.

[xiv]     “1996 Presidential Election,” 270 to Win, Viewed April 12, 2026, https://www.270towin.com/1996-election.

[xv]    “2012 Presidential Election,” 270 to Win, Viewed April 12, 2026, https://www.270towin.com/2012-election.

[xvi]    “2016 Presidential Election,” 270 to Win, Viewed April 12, 2026, https://www.270towin.com/2016-election.

[xvii]    “2020 Presidential Election,” 270 to Win, Viewed April 12, 2026, https://www.270towin.com/2020-election.

[xviii]     “2024 Presidential Election,” 270 to Win, Viewed April 12, 2026, https://www.270towin.com/2024-election.

[xix]   Natalie Fertig, “The People Who Brought You Bill Clinton Want to Introduce You to the ‘Colorado Way’”, Politico, July 6, 2025, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/06/the-colorado-way-democratic-party-00370340.

[xx]     Ashely Balcerzak, “Study: Most Americans Want to Kill ‘Citizens United’ with Constitutional Amendment,” Center for Public Integrity, May 10, 2018, https://publicintegrity.org/politics/study-most-americans-want-to-kill-citizens-united-with-constitutional-amendment/.

[xxi]      Erica Socker, “New Poll: Majority of Voters Want Congress to Take Action to Lower Health Care Prices,” Arnold Ventures, June 30, 2021, https://www.arnoldventures.org/stories/new-poll-majority-of-voters-want-congress-to-take-action-to-lower-health-care-prices.

[xxii]      David M. Dworkin and Dennis C. Shea, “Across the Aisle, Americans Look to Congress to Address Housing,” Newsweek, June 25, 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/across-aisle-americans-look-congress-address-housing-opinion-1915898.

[xxiii]      Sharon Zhang, “74 Percent of Voters Support Raising Federal Minimum Wage to $20 an Hour,” Truthout, May 30, 2023, https://truthout.org/articles/74-percent-of-voters-support-raising-federal-minimum-wage-to-20-an-hour/.

[xxiv]       Eli Yokley, “Ahead of GOP Tax Fight, Republican Voters Increasingly Want to See the Rich Pay More,” Morning Consult, April 16, 2025, https://pro.morningconsult.com/analysis/trump-tax-cuts-republican-voters-april-2025

[xxv]   “Americans Are United Against Partisan Gerrymandering,” Brennan Center for Justice, March 15, 2019, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/americans-are-united-against-partisan-gerrymandering.

[xxvi]     Alison Durkee, “How Americans Really Feel About Abortion: The Sometimes Surprising Poll Results One Year After Roe Overturned,” Forbes, June 26, 2023, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2023/06/26/how-americans-really-feel-about-abortion-the-sometimes-surprising-poll-results-one-year-after-roe-overturned/?sh=5455ee7b5ea3.

[xxvii]     Roy Teixeira and John B. Judis, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?: The Soul of the Party in the Age of Extremes. (Henry Holt and Co., 2023.)