Democrats Just Flipped RED Miami – But Face Major 2028 Presidential Problem?

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And the Democrats have scored wins in high-profile mayoral races in New York City and Miami and in governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia. The question now, how will they fare in the next year's midterms and the presidential election in 2028? Joining us for a look ahead at the rising stars and the platforms of the Democrats is Mike Leon. He's host of the podcast Can We Please Talk. Mike, happy Monday morning to you. Good to see you. Lot to chop through here in a short amount of time, so I'm

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going to get right to it. what what has been working for the Democrats, particularly Eileen Higgins, taking Miami's mayoral uh office hasn't been held by a Democrat in 30 years. >> Yeah, K, good to see you as always. I think the the biggest thing that's been working for Democrats right now is just the fact that there's a Republican in office and the Republicans control Congress and we haven't seen too much legislation passed through. We've seen some impasses. We've seen a government

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shutdown. We've seen mixed messaging. So when whenever you have a new administration come in and then everyone starts to look at the midterms, you always see percentage point swings, whether it be in purple districts that now lean Democratic. These 25 elections though, Carrie, I I think we're reading a little too much into it. I I don't want to do the typical Republican strategist thing of like, well, these are all blue anyway, so they were going to go blue anyway. I mean, you just mentioned Miami mayor hasn't flipped in

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over 30 years. But I I think uh the the the big takeaway has been voter turnout. Like in California's Prop 50 thing, uh there was millions of people that turned out for that. I think the the New Jersey win by Mikey Cheryl, it was really surprising to me as a Rucker kid and a Jersey guy because Jack Cherelli has been in New Jersey politics for so long that Mikey Cheryl coming in winning that district, not excuse me, she represents the district in Essex, but she she wins the governor's race by so many

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percentage points. I think that's been more surprising right now, but we got to see how we got a long way before the midterms in 26. We'll see what happens in the first half of 2026. >> Yeah. And I think I might have misspoke. Of course, uh Higgins is the first Democrat to hold the mayoral office in Miami in 30 years. It's been held by Republicans. And it used to be a red state when during the Bush years. Somehow it flipped red. Um and now, you know, everything is potentially on the

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line as we go to the midterm. So, what are the Democrats strategy? What are the key issues? What what should they be doing to try to flip either chamber or both? >> Yeah. Well, I think the big thing, Carrie, you and I talked about this in the 24 election. I had to go back and watch it. Carrie, we were talking about how podcasts have shaped election and new media. And I think what you're seeing right now, in addition to issues, let's say, that are happening across the country, right, that Democrats have been

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talking about, like look at what ICE is doing with respect to immigration enforcement, etc. the economy. Are you still paying less than what President Trump promised in in terms of running on those issues? Those are going to be the issues. But in terms of how they're doing it, Carrie, you know, you and I talked about this. President Trump during the 24 campaign cycle, he found everybody that has a microphone and any podcaster with millions of subs from playing golf with Bryson Dambo to going

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on Aiden Ross's podcast to doing all these things with Jake Paul and Logan Paul. So, I think Democrats are starting to find their footing in terms of doing that with new media outlets. I saw Representative Seth Molton who's now running for Senate to replace Ed Marky there. He he was recently on a popular influencer show. Um so I think they're starting to lean into a little bit more of that and and saturating the market with that. I think campaign managers are starting to realize that we have to play

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in this new media space because if you don't play in it, you you're going to get swallowed by it. going to the traditional outlets and doing a sit down interview with the CNN Foxes and MSNBC's of the world just doesn't push out the message as much as influencers across social media can drive your your message in your platform a little bit out faster. So, I think it's an issues combination thing, but I think they're also embracing the new media aspect of it and starting to hit the ground

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running on the social media front. >> And of course, candidate strength is one of the most important, if not the most important things. So, wide open slate now. Who do you expect to rise out of the Democrat side in the primaries? >> Uh Carrie, you saved the best for last. This is the problem with Democrats right now. So, I mean, if you look at the New Hampshire polling, right, you got Pete Buddha Judge leading that. But if you talk to any Democratic, at least a progressive Democratic strategist,

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they'll tell you that Pete Buddhaj has no chance because he doesn't have the black vote. And and and the black vote and even some Latino vote is what you really need. You need a true coalition if you're going to try to, you know, take 2028 by storm. or at least let's go with 26. You'd have to look at each district specifically, but in terms of the presidential, I mean, it's so early. I mean, obviously you got the Gavin Newsomes and Kla Harris hasn't ruled things out, but do Democrats really want

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to retread somebody like that, somebody that's a little bit more in the middle? Are they going to alienate the progressive wing of the party? Are they going to try to come into the middle? I mean, if they look at the 25 elections, what you've seen with respect to Eileen Higgins and with respect to Zor Mani is that they haven't alienated that part. And both of those candidates are a little bit further to the left, for lack of a better term. So, do they start to incorporate that? Do they start to run

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some more uh moderate candidates? I mean, that's the problem. If you look at their roster, if you look at JB Pritsker, if you look at Governor Shapiro, each of them has their own respective issues. I still think the war in Gaza, again, the war in Gaza has not been uh ended. I know we had a ceasefire in place, but that ceasefire has been broken numerous times by both sides. So, what happens with that? that could be an issue that definitely uh you know hit President Biden and Kla Harris respectively in the in the face with

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respect to just Michigan if you just look at that as an example. So there what [snorts] are the going to be the issues going into each specific race in 26 and then in 28? I just don't know who Democrats can prop up. But like anything in in politics, you really don't get a candidate to emerge until you try to see them under fire and come through all of those primaries. >> It's a lot to look out for, Mike. I think most interesting might be if the Democrats find someone just totally

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outside of the current political arena. We saw that with Obama and with Trump when uh you know Obama was a freshman senator. So, a lot to look forward to. We're going to have a lot to talk to over the next couple years. Mike Leon, thanks for joining us.