Alright, on today's episode of Deconstructed, we're going to try to figure out why it was

that Democrats were able to defy political gravity in the midterms, hold onto the Senate,

and nearly hold onto the House.

And to do that, we're going to be helped by Tom Bonyer, the head of the Democratic

Data From Target Smart, who, along with Simon Rosenberg, was the loudest voice shouting

that the media was getting it all wrong during their midterm coverage.

So, we joined the podcast last summer to lay his theory out, and he's back today to explain

what we can learn from what he was seeing and what the media was missing.

Tom, welcome back to Deconstructed.

It's great to be back.

And so, Tom, can you remind listeners what Target Smart is and why it's able to get such

extraordinary access to voting and other data?

Yeah, I'd love to.

At our core were a voter data company, so we collect data on every registered voter

around the country.

So, it's at its core voter registration lists.

And then what we do is we append other information.

So, voter models on partisanship or turnout likelihood, issue preferences, things like

that, and we work with Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations.

And so, the most important question to me is what did actually happen in this election?

You know, who came out to vote for Democrats and why?

Because the answer to that will shape what kind of agenda Democrats are going to pursue,

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