WITH ABDUL EL SAYED WIN, MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS FALL TO THE MAMDANI LEFT

Not long ago, these weren’t foreign lands for Democrats.

South Dakota elected Tom Daschle to three Senate terms, elevating him to majority leader before Sen. John Thune (R-SD) ended his career in 2004. Today, Thune occupies the very leadership post Daschle once held.

Nebraska twice elected Bob Kerrey to the Senate. For a time, he was considered one of the Democratic Party’s leading prospects for the 1992 presidential nomination.

Montana sent Jon Tester to the Senate for three terms. Just two years after Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) defeated him, Montana Democrats have effectively thrown in the towel by lining up behind faux independent Seth Bodnar.

The faux independents themselves reveal what’s really happening.

Democratic strategists aren’t asking them to run as Democrats because they know the label has become politically toxic across much of America. Instead, they’re encouraging candidates to run without a D next to their name.

Republicans shouldn’t congratulate themselves too quickly. Their own electoral map reveals the same underlying problem.

Colorado Republicans have become an endangered species in a state they once dominated. Their nominee for governor, Victor Marx, is a self-described murderer whose candidacy threatens to hand Democrats a supermajority in the state legislature.

Marx’s nomination confirms that the Centennial State GOP is neither a credible nor viable political party. Moving forward, what serious would-be candidate or major donor would run on or invest in that ballot line?

In New Mexico, Republicans couldn’t even field a candidate capable of properly filing the required paperwork to challenge Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). This is the very seat held by Republican Pete Domenici for six terms between 1973 and 2009. Eventually, a write-in candidate stepped up and secured the nomination, but he is little more than a sacrificial lamb.

Elsewhere, grifter Mike Lindell could win the GOP gubernatorial nomination in Minnesota thanks to President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Minnesota has often proved to be a red mirage for Republicans, but state House Speaker Lisa Demuth at least gave the party a credible chance to compete.

Given the scandals surrounding Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), who was forced to abandon his reelection bid, Democrats would have been forced to spend heavily defending the governorship. Instead, those resources can now be deployed elsewhere.

The deeper problem is that neither party functions as a truly national party anymore.

Democrats have largely conceded everything outside big cities, college towns, mountain ski resorts, and much of the East and West coasts. Republicans, meanwhile, have become increasingly noncompetitive in New England, along the coasts, and in states such as Colorado and New Mexico.

Across the country, the minority party in states dominated by one party has just stopped trying. It recruits unserious candidates, invests little money, or, as Democrats are now doing, encourages its own nominees to step aside altogether.

DEMOCRATS’ CAMPAIGN ARM WIDENS ATTACK MAP WITH 12 NEW OFFENSIVE TARGETS, INCLUDING NRCC CHAIRMAN

If even one faux independent for Senate succeeds in November, expect the strategy to spread rapidly in 2028 and beyond.

At that point, it will be fair to ask a simple question: If a major party no longer believes it can compete under its own name, what purpose does that party still serve?

Dennis Lennox (@dennislennox on X) is a political commentator and public affairs consultant.