The Democrats Have a New Winning Formula

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week was a straight flush for Democrats. Zohran Mamdani completed his heroic arc to become mayor of the world’s most important city. Democrats ran up huge margins in the big governor races in Virginia and New Jersey, where Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, respectively, won by double digits. What unified the three victories was the Democratic candidate’s ability to turn the affordability curse against the sitting president, transforming Republicans’ 2024 advantage into a 2025 albatross. Affordability is the Democrats’ new watchword. And it’s a good one. It speaks to Americans' direct concerns. It’s a big-tent subject, allowing a democratic socialist to offer one message in South Brooklyn and a moderate Democrat to offer another message in southern Virginia. Today’s guest is Matthew Yglesias, a writer whose site, Slow Boring, is a must-read for me and many others who follow politics and policy. We talk about the affordability theory of everything and its weaknesses, the Democrats’ big night, the lessons of Mamdani, persuasion, moderation, and much more. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Matthew Yglesias Producers: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What's up? It's Todd McShay, host of the McShay Show at the Ringer and Spotify.
0:04.7	We're building this thing up and I couldn't be more excited to be back talking college football
0:09.6	and everything NFL draft with the most informed audience out there. That's you.
0:15.1	My co-host, Steve Mention, I will be with you three times a week throughout the football season
0:19.8	with all the latest news, analysis,
0:22.0	and scouting intel from around the league. For even more insight, subscribe to my newsletter,
0:27.8	the McShea report to access my mock drafts, big boards, tape breakdowns, and other exclusive
0:34.0	scouting content you can't get anywhere else.
0:39.2	It's going to be a great season.
0:43.2	And I hope you'll be with us at the McShay show every step of the way.
0:45.5	Ready to launch your business?
0:48.6	Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
0:53.9	Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that
0:55.2	let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping
0:59.7	solutions that actually save you time, from startups to scale ups, online, in person, and on
1:05.5	the go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
1:14.3	Today, the Democrats.
1:18.4	This week was a straight flush for the Democratic Party.
1:22.2	Zoran Mamdani completed his heroic arc to become the mayor of the world's most important city.
1:28.4	Democrats ran up huge margins in the big governor races in Virginia and New Jersey, where Abigail Spanberger and
1:33.3	Mikey Sherrill both won by double digits. But to understand what happened this week, how the
1:38.8	Democrats won, why their message resonated, and how Trump has made himself so vulnerable to a huge backlash
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Ringer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Ringer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.