VICTORY LAP: Democratic Senators-Elect Take to the Airwaves in Post-Midterm Blitz

Democratic Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer on MS NOW: “We had great candidates. We had them in states that were not the blue states, but purple and even red. They fit their states”

DSCC Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on MS NOW: “It was a blue tsunami. We elected people all across the country in red and purple states. New candidates, candidates who understood what was happening in their communities”

Days after a historic blue tsunami swept Democrats into the Senate majority, Democratic Senators-elect are taking to the airwaves to share how they did it – and what they plan to deliver in the Senate majority.

From Maine to South Carolina to Ohio to Michigan to Kansas to Texas, Democrats made history by flipping seats and winning in red and purple states with a slate of “formidable” and “inspiring” candidates who “love their states,” “love America,” and “stepped up to the plate.” 

Powered by “thousands of volunteers” and real “enthusiasm,” Democratic campaigns set out to “go everywhere and talk to everyone” – and built coalitions that “welcomed Republicans and independents who felt left behind by the broken Washington political system.” 

See for yourself: 

MS NOW: Democrats Flip House & Senate in Stunning Rebuke of Trump

DEMOCRATIC LEADER SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER: Our candidates had to be high quality, good people, not only good brains and not only articulate, but good souls. And these candidates, when we recruited them – when I went to recruit a lot of these candidates – you know what motivated them? Patriotism. Almost every one of them could have had a better job in terms of pay, in terms of less hours, and things like that. 

But they ran because they knew our country was in trouble. They love their states. They love America. And they stepped up to the plate. And the people saw that. In a campaign like this, you have the rare moment where there’s such intensity and such focus. They look inside and say, who are these people? And they were really great people up and down the line. […]

So we had great candidates. We had them in states that were not the blue states, but purple and even red. They fit their states. But every one of them agreed with our basic campaign thrust […] We wanted to put an end to corruption, and we wanted to end the chaos. And each candidate – each candidate said it in his or her own way. How you put that forward in Maine and how you put that forward in Kansas is different, but it’s all the same theme. And so it echoed and resonated from one end of America to the other. And people knew what we stood for. 

MS NOW: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Joins MS NOW

DSCC Chair SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: Well, it was a change election. It was a blue tsunami. We elected people all across the country in red and purple states. New candidates, candidates who understood what was happening in their communities. We fought on issues of cost, on ending the war, on getting rid of these tariffs, dealing with the culture of corruption in Washington. 

And those candidates’ messages resonated. They were formidable. They were inspiring. And this country voted for change. So we have to get to work on behalf of the American people. We have to deliver for the American people. 

We’ve got to try to end this war in Iran so we can get our fuel costs down, our home heating costs down, diesel prices down, get food costs down. We need to make sure we deal with these chaotic tariffs that are driving up costs for everyday goods for people. And those are the kinds of things that will help people where they need help, as we promised in this election. 

Fox News: MUSICAL CHAIRS – Democratic Senator Elected in South Carolina 

SENATOR-ELECT ANNIE ANDREWS: I vowed to be an independent voice for South Carolina and I also stayed really laser-focused on the issues that I heard about from South Carolinians which of course include the affordability conversation, high gas prices, grocery prices, the impending health care crisis with those Medicaid budget cuts, and finding a way to end this war with Iran. 

And that’s what people in South Carolina are ready for and they showed up and they voted for me and I’m ready to earn the support of those who didn’t. And I’m just really grateful that South Carolina decided to take a chance on a pediatrician and a mom of three. 

MS NOW: Sen.-Elect Troy Jackson (D-ME) on Democratic Priorities

MS NOW’s WILLIE GEIST: The narrative over the course of this campaign was always that, well, Susan Collins, she always finds a way. She’s a survivor up in Maine. Somehow she always wins. And then we’d have people from the D.C. class come on and say, I’m not so sure about this new guy, Troy Jackson. I don’t know what kind of candidate he is. 

Mika, leading the charge as a Mainer, saying, no, no, no, Troy Jackson is Maine. He is the kind of guy that people in Maine will vote for. So what were you seeing and hearing on the ground that obviously turned into a win, that it wasn’t that close? You won by more than six points.

SENATOR-ELECT TROY JACKSON: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, my background, where I come from, where, you know, how I talk, makes people think that, you know, I can’t get things done. But I’ve had a long career of getting things done in the Maine Legislature. Because I believe people know that I’m sincere and I have integrity, and I want to fight for people that need a government to work for them. 

NBC News: Sen. Elect Adam Hamilton

NBC News’ KRISTEN WELKER: You made history on Tuesday night, Mr. Senator-Elect, how’d you do it? 

SENATOR-ELECT ADAM HAMILTON: Well, I will tell you, it was a lot of people. There were literally thousands of volunteers – people who gave, people who knocked on doors. That was a big part of our campaign, was getting the vote out and knocking on doors, getting people to register to vote. 

But here is the big thing: there was a lot of people in Kansas, like across the United States, who were saying what’s happening in Washington, D.C., is not okay. This is not who we are. Republicans saying this is not what it means to be a Republican – what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Democrats who were clearly frustrated, disappointed, afraid, I think, sometimes, of what’s happening in our country, and just saying we’ve got to do better. 

So I had a chance to, you know – people resonated with that message. It had to do with kitchen table conversations around the cost of fuel, the cost of fertilizer if you are a farmer. But it was also the hidden tariff tax. It was the 60,000 people in Kansas who lost health insurance the last year and a half. So it was these things – SNAP benefits taken away for 20,000 children in Kansas. 

But I think it was also a sense of common decency. This is part of our campaign was, you know, we’ve got to do better. This is not decent. There was cruelty, there was corruption, there were things happening in D.C. that people are saying, that’s just not American. It’s not who we are as Kansans, and we have to do better, and I think that message resonated with a lot of people here. 

MS NOW: Brown’s Win Helps Democrats Win Decisive Senate Majority

SENATOR-ELECT SHERROD BROWN: I didn’t expect to ever run again. I watched, as all of us did, watched the billionaires stepping down from their limousines on January 20th like they own the place. Within minutes, hours, days, it was clear they did. And Connie and I decided by spring, early summer, maybe we just couldn’t stay on the sideline.  

I didn’t want to, five years from now, look back and say, I would have beat this guy. I would have beat Senator Husted if and didn’t do it. So I got in, and we could see people around the country realizing, if you can win Ohio, you can win Alaska, you can win North Carolina, you can win – who thought of South Carolina, Dr. Andrews, at that point? 

But there was – everywhere we went, I think in the whole country […] all of us were hearing the same things about the war, about the tariffs, about the terrible corruption. […] And people now, for the first time, they realize that corruption raises their electric rates, that corruption causes groceries to be more expensive, that corruption puts small businesses and farmers at risk of losing their businesses and their farms. So it’s pretty clear the voters are totally seeing this, and Democrats talked about it all over the country.

ABC News: El Sayed Reacts to Historic Win

SENATOR-ELECT ABDUL EL-SAYED: It was a mandate for an affordable America and people understand that Donald Trump could care less about your affordability, and they understand that they’re willing to take a bet on Democrats. We’ve got to make that bet pay off. 

The question for us is: are we willing to earn the trust that they have given us every day for the next term, and for me, for the next six years? I don’t take winning an election as the end outcome, I take doing the work as the outcome. And I think all of us as Democrats need to be united in the responsibility to deliver. 

CNN: One-On-One With Texas Senator-Elect James Talarico

SENATOR-ELECT JAMES TALARICO: We saw incredible momentum on the ground over the course of the last year all over Texas. We saw a coalition coming together – first-time voters, young voters, three-time Trump voters.

And so I knew that we were building something special, I didn’t know we were going to win Texas by double digits, but I really do believe that the reason we won is that we forged a new kind of politics. Not a politics of hate or fear or division, but a politics of love. One that brings people together rather than pulling them apart. And I think that can be a model for our politics as a nation going forward.