The Democratic Party gained power across the country in the midterms. Now what?

Two years ago, voters sent Democrats a message when they ousted them from power in Washington.At first glance, last week's midterm results sent a new one.Democrats will enter the next Congress with one of the largest majorities in a generation, flipping dozens of House districts and at least seven Senate seats in mainly Trump-won communities.

The party now controls a majority of governorships, and gained control of several additional state legislative chambers."I think one of the big surprises for me on Tuesday night was just how deep and wide our election results were," Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in an interview with NPR."This was the biggest election cycle for Democrats in the history of our party."Martin, who has faced criticism from some inside the party throughout his term as chairman, said that the stunning Democratic victories across the country were the result of his party's focus on issues like affordability and ending the war in Iran.He said the midterms were bigger than politics and bigger than party, and acknowledged the results were just as much about serving as a "massive repudiation of Donald Trump and the MAGA Trumpers and the Republican Party." "I think it's an admonition for Democrats, for sure: Now that we're in power, we have to deliver," he said.

"But it was a complete message to Republicans.You had the ability to help us and you did nothing."With an expanded Congressional majority and a lame duck president, one of the frontlines for figuring out if the Democratic party's power will hold will be in the South, Martin said."Six of the 10 fastest growing parts of the country right now are below the Mason-Dixon line, and 40% of the U.S.

population is going to live in the South after the next Census," he said."As we go into 2032 and there's a realignment with the reapportionment, states like Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Illinois and California are all going to lose electoral vot...