Adam Jentleson offers advice for Democrats
The gist
Searchlight Institute president Adam Jentleson says Democrats are on track for 56 Senate seats and up to 260 House seats.
His advice: kill the filibuster, run everywhere and embrace heterodoxy over litmus tests.
How it unfolded
- Oct 5, 2025Jentleson, having recently launched the Searchlight Institute, says the party is not a majority and that 2024 drove that home, and that a "wall of sound" pushes Democrats left.
- Oct 14, 2025The Atlantic reports the think tank has a seven-person team, a polling arm and a $10 million budget, promising a "menu" of orthodoxy-challenging ideas.
- Dec 15, 2025He tells Chatham House's The World Today what Democrats could learn from New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and "supermajority thinking."
Key terms
- filibuster
- A parliamentary tactic in which members prolong debate to delay or prevent a vote on legislation.
- midterms
- US general elections held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term, when all House seats and about a third of Senate seats are contested.
- supermajority
- A requirement for a proposal to gain a level of support greater than one-half, as opposed to a simple majority.
Source: Wikipedia