Adam Jentleson’s Supermajority: How Democrats Can Build Lasting Power challenges us to think longer term about what it would take to halt the steady march of right-wing authoritarianism and deliver durable but long-overdue relief for working Americans. Its premise is simple: the only way to get from here to a basically social democratic future (not his words) is to consistently win supermajorities in Congress, and the only way to do that is for Democrats to become competitive again in more red states.

Flipping a six-to-three Supreme Court means holding the Senate across multiple cycles, which means maintaining something near sixty seats. In 2009, Democrats held at least one Senate seat in thirty-six states, including Nebraska, Montana, Arkansas, West Virginia, and both Dakotas. Today they hold seats in just twenty-four.

Far too much Democratic strategy treats 270 electoral votes and fifty-one senators — or, on the Left, primarying centrist incumbents in solidly Democratic districts — as the objective. Picking off corporate Democrats in deep blue districts may be useful, but its strategic value pales beside beating more Republicans. Jentleson’s insistence that the real target must be 370 electoral votes and sixty senators should help to reframe debates across the coalition.