– Women, women, women: Biggest Democratic successes everywhere were from women. They won everywhere including some of the unlikeliest districts. Women won in Michigan, Kansas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, Nevada, Arizona and on and on. There is a mobilizing power in women candidates inspiring women to turnout, and there are more women than men in the voting populace.

– It’s not about ideology, it’s about authenticity: There is no clear-cut lesson about ideology where moderates win more in purple/red states and liberals do badly in them or vice versa. Moderates won in more liberal areas and progressives won in more moderate areas. Saying what you think and being authentic mattered. Quality candidates mattered.

– Youth, inspiration and turnout matter: This is closely connected to the last one. Beto O’Rourke lost but came closer than a Democrat has in decades in TX. He raised a lot of grassroots money, turned out a ton of new voters, and as a result helped flip a lot of Congressional and local slots including in some pretty red counties in TX.

Stacey Abrams is effectively tied right now in GA (and that’s not taking into account a lot of shenanigans from her opponent to suppress the vote). Again, a Democrat hasn’t been that close in ages and she ran a pretty progressive campaign. As a result, she helped flip the GA-6 (Newt Gingrich’s old seat). The winner there was a black woman running on gun control inspired by her late son. In 2017 there was a special election for that seat and Dems ran a moderate middle-of-the-pack candidate who lost. Inspiration and turnout matters.

Contrast that with TN where Phil Bredesen – who was an immensely popular governor some years back – is an older moderate Dem who ran a very purple campaign saying he would have voted for Kavanaugh. Result? He got crushed. I am not saying there were better options in TN, but it’s safe to say he inspired no one new to donate, to register, to get involved. He gave them no reason to rush out and support him.

The lesson is getting people inspired and getting them motivated. It’s about being authentic more than ideological.

– Good news for Democrats in 2020: The upper midwest is the Democratic path to winning 2020. Trump won because he barely eked out a victory in PA/MI/WI. We have to lock those up early. The Democratic route back comes with locking those down. What helps?

Democrats won them all Tuesday. Democratic governors in all of them (including WI which had a bad track record of voter suppression under Walker). Democratic Senators re-elected. New congresspeople. Better showings in state legislators. All states are blue again. Democrats win those states + Hillary states and win the presidency. Another good development for Democrats: Hillary states are safe. Former swing-states NV and NM went blue locally and nationally. VA is bluer than ever. Democrats have a strong base and need to make sure to lock down PA/MI/WI.

– Bad news for Democrats in 2020: Winning Hillary states + PA/MI/WI is enough. But ideally, they would like to have a few more states to play offense and expand the map. Where should they do that? In the midwest, OH seems to have gone quite red and might actually be a waste of time and money. IA had better results Tuesday night. Still though, but that’s a genuinely purple state and is worth fighting for. A contested primary campaign there should help generate excitement for Democrats.

In terms of the south, North Carolina has a tough history of voter suppression. GA is possible but it would take the right candidate and significant investment. AZ is interesting because Democrats could be about to win a Senate seat there, and a candidate from the west might make inroads. But it is still tough.

Which leaves FL. Democrats have to fight for Florida. It’s as tight as it gets. They flipped two House seats in the midterms and might end up with a Democratic Agricultural Commissioner (which, for those who don’t know, is the 2nd most powerful role behind the governor and impacts environmental and gun policies). The Gov/Sen races are 50/50. Florida is frequently frustrating, but it’s achievable and worth the fight.

So to me, the lessons from Tuesday are this:

– Younger, inspiring, fresh faces > older political veterans: give voters (especially new voters) reasons to participate, donate, engage, volunteer, register and turn-out.

– Ideology and where you come from matter less than authenticity, character and getting people excited to want to be part of your movement: The notion that Democrats need a purple-state-moderate-safe candidate is outdated thinking UNLESS that moderate is inspiring and fresh in his/her own right. Again, less about ideology than character.

– Women: I believe Democratic primary voters have to give women candidates an extra close look might even want women as both presidential and VP candidates to underscore the historic nature and get women and younger voters involved. I could be wrong about that, but it is impossible to miss the strength women candidates played for Democrats on Tuesday. Absolutely record-setting.

– Don’t run someone under FBI investigation: It hurt Democrats in 2016 and it’s possible it hurt the Democratic candidate for governor in FL this cycle. We don’t know, but better safe than sorry.

– Strategy: LOCK UP THE MIDWEST: Invest heavily and early in PA/MI/WI. Maybe pick a VP candidate from the region (the senior Senator from MN perhaps?) and have them camp out there 24/7. Register voters like crazy and turn them out. Work with the Democratic governors to expand access to voting. The margins there were tiny in 2016 and with proper investment Democrats can win. They need to make sure they do.

– Expand the map realistically: Start with FL/IA, and look at AZ and maybe GA. But don’t get sucked into long-shots. Democrats are still a couple cycles away.