The 2024 presidential election results are nothing short of a gut punch for Democrats. President-elect Donald Trump won each of the seven swing states this year, collecting 314 electoral votes and the win. This came as a surprise for many on the left, as many polls —namely the usually reliable Selzer Poll — predicted the opposite. The one silver lining thus far for Wisconsin Democrats is that Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., retained her seat in the Senate in a narrow victory over Eric Hovde.

This time around, Trump won Wisconsin by 30,000 votes — the smallest margin of victory in the 2024 election. The U.S. Senate seat was also a very close call, with Baldwin winning by just over 30,000 votes herself.

These results confirm what we already knew about Wisconsin, and the country as a whole — we are divided. Generally, cities are blue and rural areas are red.

All of this, we already knew. Looking back into history, nine out of the last 11 changes in office had a switch in party. Neither party can get a hold of any sort of power long enough to make any sweeping changes, and both sides are feeling like the checks and balances stop progress more than protecting abuses of power.

This bipartisan frustration, and idea that the more things change, the more they stay the same may have come to an unfortunate conclusion this past cycle. Trump and the Republicans have the U.S. presidential-elect, Congress and the Supreme Court on their side, and Trump himself has promised sweeping changes on day one.

This, of course, is extremely worrying for people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, immigrants, women and people in poverty — all of whom have been the target of restrictive legislation under the Trump campaign trail.

But at least we have Tammy Baldwin, right?

Well, I guess?

Baldwin is, by all means, a moderate. She has been able to capture a good amount of Republican voters due to the fact that she stays towards the middle and advertises herself as moderate on many issues.

Just a simple search of Baldwin’s website shows her positions on most issues are nothing controversial. She supports manufacturing in Wisconsin, and stands up for veterans and national security. Her website’s bubble about women’s freedoms makes no specific mention of abortion, only “the freedom to choose.” And of course, Baldwin’s drinking beer in the cover photo, what can be more Wisconsin than that? It would be easy for a moderate Republican to not take huge issue with Baldwin.

This by no means makes Baldwin a bad pick — she has continuously supported legislation protecting the lives and livelihoods of everybody in Wisconsin, including vouching for abortion rights, voter’s rights and climate change.

But, it is the unfortunate reality that her victory was quite literally too little, too late. Any support she puts forth on federal legislation will be overturned by the 53 Republican senators.

Through no real fault of her own, many of the contentious decisions in Wisconsin have not gone her way during her time as senator. In 2022, Wisconsin banned abortion past 21 weeks, and the 2024 referendum to limit noncitizen voting passed easily.

The reality is there is only so much one politician, local, state or presidential, can do to create significant change on their own. Wisconsin is a red state now, and will likely continue not backing Baldwin in the more progressive ideas she has for the state. Similarly, we are a red country, and as a country we are not ready for the choices backed by Democrats.

Many believe that Vice President Kamala Harris’ pivot to try and capture moderate voters was what lost her the election. That did come back to bite her, but of course there were a number of other factors at play. It felt like she was trying to be like Baldwin, a true moderate who could capture the moderate vote.

But, due to the fact that many people labeled her vice presidency as “quiet,” along with her late introduction the moderates weren’t comfortable with voting for that.

The Democrats got stomped. Less people voted blue by the millions, and the party looks as weak as it ever has. Harris not taking firm policy stances alienated both the extreme left and those stuck in the middle.

Moreover, the right has an immeasurable advantage on the youth through the media. Personalities like Andrew Tate, Charlie Kirk and Adin Ross aggressively promote Trump and his ideas with a reach that Democrats have yet to match.

Trump made gains with young voters this year, which have historically been a blue stronghold. I fear that given the unmatched influence the right has on social media that this will continue for future election cycles.

To have any chance in 2028, Democrats either need Trump’s second term to be a colossal failure or bring about a major shakeup with a “perfect” candidate. The former seems like the only likely way forward.

Leading back to Baldwin, none of this changes the fact that she is a great candidate and has been a great senator. Sadly, it is hard to celebrate her victory when Nov. 5 felt like the country took no steps forward and 100 steps back.

Ned Eggert ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in political science.