Thinking Like a Supermajority | The Ezra Klein Show

Democrats are on track to have more power in the next Congress than they’ve had since 2009. How can they navigate the divides in a party that now stretches from Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan to Adam Hamilton in Kansas? How do they prevent all their new voters in this election from flipping back in the next one? Can they turn this victory into a springboard to an even bigger and more durable Democratic majority in 2028 and beyond? We will have two episodes that try to answer these questions from different angles, one from the center of the party and one from the left. First, representing the more center view, we have Adam Jentleson, the founder and president of the Searchlight Institute, a Washington think tank. Jentleson is a veteran of the Senate; he served as deputy chief of staff to the former Senate majority leader Harry Reid and chief of staff to Senator John Fetterman. He’s also the author of two books, “Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy,” and “Supermajority: How Democrats Can Build Lasting Power,” which came out in September. Note: An earlier version of this video misstated the religious denomination of Adam Hamilton. He was a United Methodist minister, not an Episcopal minister. 00:00 Intro 03:03 Supermajority Thinking 05:20 Fighting for All 50 States 07:17 Candidate Fit 09:18 Big-Tent Absolutism 12:39 Heterodoxy Is Not Moderation 14:29 Authenticity 19:21 Local Politics vs. Nationalization 22:59 Affordability 24:34 Focus on Winning Issues 25:54 From Campaigning to Governing 26:45 Spending Political Capital 28:33 Big-Tent Defections 29:39 Lessons from 2009 31:14 Filibuster and Majority Rule 36:51 Avoiding Overreach 40:21 Bipartisan Permitting Strategy 45:08 John Fetterman and Toxic Heterodoxy 47:23 Managing Intraparty Hostility 50:42 Chuck Schumer and Passing the Torch 53:17 Book Recommendations Read the full transcript here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-adam-jentleson.html Watch more on @EzraKleinShow Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html