The Democrats’ Premature Elation Trap

Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years.

For Democrats, the good news just keeps on coming.

Did I just write that? I’m in shock that I had legitimate cause to. That it’s true. The party ended 2024 in such profound devastation and stumbled through so much of 2025 in a daze that I’d begun to wonder if it were operating under a cosmic hex, never again to feel a flicker of hope, a tickle of joy.

But here we are. Virginia voters just passed a redistricting plan that could net the party an additional four House seats in November. It answers, tit for tat, Republican gerrymanders elsewhere. Even before that hopeful, joyful turn, political analysts were abuzz with how increasingly friendly to Democrats the midterm political environment was shaping up to be. My........

© The New York Times