Micah, last night’s results do make me wonder how challenging the long tail of the pandemic will be for Democrats going forward. Obviously, many voters did not like how Trump and the Republicans handled the public health side. But I think voters were also primed to care about education because there’s still some lingering anger from parents over last year’s school closures — and tensions around parental autonomy are not going to abate as vaccinations for younger children become a reality. I’ve seen some discussion of whether congressional Democrats’ decision to bag paid family leave as part of the big spending bill will anger parents in next year’s midterms, but I think debates around schools could be a lot more potent.
