Southeast and Southwest democrats strategy

[Virginiá]

I think over the past 2 years I've adopted the view that party coalitions, absent an aligning event, tend to evolve naturally, on their own, with only moderate guidance from the party themselves. By 2008, young people/minorities became the pillars of the Democratic coalition, while old people moved to the GOP. I believe this was inevitable, and since then, the parties reinforce these bonds by delivering policy that they believe their base wants. People say Democrats need to stop the identity politics - well, how? Millennials are receptive to these issues. Maybe there is another way but we need a leader to prove to us that another way works.

That being said, I think the Southwest/east shift is just a natural evolution of these trends. We can say we want to get WCWs back to hold the Midwest, and we may be able to do that for a while, but in all likelihood at least some of those states will slip from our grasp as we increasingly cater to new members of our coalition. I don't think Trump winning WI/MI/PA by slim margins once says anything important, and for all we know they could swing right back, but the current trend among WCWs is cause for worry at the very least.

My point is that I think there is less control here than people are thinking. We can make some changes, delay some trends maybe, hold on for a bit elsewhere, but everything suggests Democrats are swallowing up coastal states/southwest and parts of the South. We can't really change that right now, and overall it'll benefit us because most of these states we are rising in are getting House seats from states that Republicans are rising in. In terms of long-term strategy, Democrats really seem to winning out beautifully, even if short-term losses can be dizzying.

As for those white college grads/suburbanites - its worth noting that the Millennial generation will be, at least for a time, the most educated generation in history, and that seems like it would eventually make white college grads a more favorable Democratic constituency, assuming current support among white millennials holds (more or less). If anyone is worried we'll move back to the center - maybe we will, but not anytime soon. As Millennials make up more of the party and progressives continue to swallow up party power, it'll probably continue neutering the corporate wing for the forseeable future. We just have to give it time and put in proper effort.