Nicholas Fandos

The people who, frankly, he was able to bring out in large numbers in his mayoral election who don't typically vote or in some cases had voted for Donald Trump for president and then came around to support him.

I think in many ways there are similarities.

I mean, whether you look at the Tea Party after President Obama was elected or you look at Donald Trump's rise in the 2016 Republican primary, there was a very similar situation on their side.

After losing a series of elections—

There was a faction within the Republican Party who came in and said, we've got it all wrong.

We've got to change drastically if we're going to win across the country.

And they went on to start winning races.

And we find ourselves where we do now.

Democrats right now are trying to figure out how do we get our mojo back?

And I don't think we're going to have a true answer for a couple of years until we have candidates on the presidential debate stage and vying for the attention of the entire country.

The midterms will give us one answer to that question.

And I think that the presidential election that's waiting right behind it will give an even bigger one.

Because Democrats, not just here in New York, but in races from Maine to Michigan to other places, are testing out their tolerance right now for ideas and labels that previously would have been seen as outside the mainstream, that might have been seen as disqualifying, and deciding, is that something that we like?

Is that something we're willing to tolerate because of the energy and dynamism and the freshness of what they're bringing to the table?

Or do we want to retreat to something more familiar

to try and win over our neighbors who are not already on board.

And that's going to be a raucous, multi-stage fight.

And so Tuesday night in New York might just have been the opening bell.

It was my pleasure.