Slim majorities have become more common in the U.S. House and Senate – PEW
Debt ceiling woes suggests limits to Trump power over GOP – Hill
Expect More Lawmakers to Go ‘Independent’ in the Coming Year – Andrew Yang/Newsweek
Why did the Democrats get creamed? Sherrod Brown can tell you. – Karen Tumulty/WaPost
“Brown says the political shift in his state began with a signal event: the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, the first year of Bill Clinton’s presidency. ‘Workers have slowly migrated out of the Democratic Party,’ he told me. ‘It accelerated as more and more jobs were lost. And I still heard [about NAFTA] in this campaign, especially in the Miami Valley, Dayton, where we still won, [and] up there in Mahoning Valley, where we didn’t win.’
“Workers came to view Democrats ‘as a bicoastal elite party,’ he explained. ‘We were too pro-corporate. They know Republicans are going to shill for corporate interests. They expected Democrats would stand up for them, and they don’t see that nationally.’
“…although he himself will no longer be there come January, Brown insists that Democrats can — and must — win back the votes of working-class Americans. Those voters may disagree with some of the party’s stances on social issues, such as guns, abortion, crime and immigration, but will return to the fold ‘if we stay on economic issues and do it right.'”
Joe Manchin slams Democratic Party as “toxic” as he prepares to leave Congress – TAG24
CCSE work on this issue: