I-35 is a great American highway. It starts at the southern border in Laredo, Texas, then moseys its way through Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota, straight up through the gut of the country. It is where the election of 2026 took place, spiritually and politically. It is where the governing strategy for the Democratic Party should now reside.
The midterm election really began in Minnesota during the winter ICE raids and the brutal deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. The question nagged throughout the year: Is this who we are? Didn’t a guy like Pretti treat me at the hospital when I slashed my hand on the job? Didn’t we all know a wandering soul like Good, who had landed in Minneapolis with her three kids just eight months earlier? It was the subtext for all that followed. We wanted the border closed—good job, Mr. President—but did we really vote for brutal, masked gangster feds fighting our fellow citizens in the streets?
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