After Democrats’ devastating losses across the country in 2024, a quiet consensus seemed to form among not only the pundit class but even some senior Democratic operatives. They noted that Hillary Clinton, the first woman nominee, lost to Donald Trump. Joe Biden defeated him. Then Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian nominee, lost amid an apparent anti-“woke” backlash.

“Some Democratic leaders, donors and strategists,” Axios reported earlier this year, wondered “whether the party’s best bet for winning back the presidency in 2028 is to nominate a man — perhaps a straight, white, Christian man.”Even former first lady Michelle Obama demurred that the country was “not ready for a woman.”Tuesday’s blue tidal wave, powered by minority and female candidates across the nation, forcefully rejected that narrative.

As the night wore on, the list of “firsts” grew and grew. In the Senate, Abdul El-Sayed overcame an onslaught of Islamophobic attacks to become the first Muslim elected to the chamber. He will join New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas, the first openly gay man elected to the Senate; Annie Andrews, the first woman elected to the Senate from South Carolina; and Peggy Flanagan, the first Native American woman elected to the Senate.

In the House, the history makers abound. To name but a few: Adam Hamawy, the first Muslim elected to Congress from New Jersey; Denise Powell, the first Latina elected to Congress from Nebraska; Melat Kiros, the first Black woman elected to Congress from Colorado; and Claire Valdez, the first Indigenous women elected to Congress from New York. Cait Conley will be the first openly lesbian woman to represent New York in the House. She will serve alongside J.D. Ford and Jeremy Moss, the first openly gay House members from Indiana and Michigan, respectively.

Nowhere, though, was the list of “firsts” longer than in the gubernatorial races. Keisha Lance Bottoms became Georgia’s first female and first Black governor — and the first Black woman elected governor anywhere in U.S. history. In New Mexico, Deb Haaland will be the first Native American woman to govern a state. And Gina Hinojosa will be Texas’ first Latina governor.

Other groundbreaking results include: Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota’s first woman governor; David Crowley, Wisconsin’s first Black governor; Amy Acton, the first women elected governor of Ohio and the state’s first Jewish governor to boot; Xavier Becerra, California’s first Latino elected governor; and Aaron Ford, Nevada’s first Black governor.

Even on a horrible night for the GOP, Republicans had some history-making wins too. Marsha Blackburn is the first woman elected governor of Tennessee, and Byron Donalds will be Florida’s first Black governor.

These results do not mean that a country that elected Donald Trump twice has suddenly overcome racism and sexism. Having worked on Clinton’s 2016 campaign and served as a presidential delegate to Harris, I understand the challenges diverse nominees face better than most.

Still, the results deflate pernicious narratives about who is electable. Critically, these diverse Democratic candidates won races not just in deep-blue states but in red and purple states as well. The results suggest that voters can look beyond identity when candidates focus on the issues that resonate with the electorate.

In 2024, Harris lost Georgia, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin. In 2026, each of those states elected a woman, minority or minority woman as governor. One in 3 of every advertising dollar spent against El-Sayed by GOP campaign groups attempted to link him to terrorism or Islamic extremism. He stayed disciplined on grocery prices and education spending. Conley’s website bio doesn’t even mention that she is a lesbian, but it does list “what Cait is fighting for” including lowering drug costs, cleaning up corruption and cutting utility bills.

Prejudice is real, but confusing the existence of those biases with doom for anyone other than straight white men is a mistake. And it is a particularly costly error for a party as diverse and coalition-based as the Democratic Party.

The implications for 2028 are hard to ignore. For the past couple years the same names have been thrown around as serious presidential contenders: Gavin Newsom, Jon Ossoff, Josh Shapiro, Andy Beshear, Mark Kelly, JB Pritzker. But anyone who has been writing off Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Wes Moore, Gretchen Whitmer, Pete Buttigieg or the host of other eminently qualified minority and female contenders before they have even announced bids should reconsider their assumptions.

Democrats can spend the next two years debating what type of candidates the country is ready for — or they can focus on finding the candidates with the ideas, messages and experiences to solve the problems Americans actually care about. On Tuesday, the voters told us to follow the latter path.