He would have been more competitive for sure, but the @harrisonjaime @DougJones and @MikeEspyMS races illustrate the structural challenges that still exist for Democrats in the South, even with high quality candidates and even when Ds do win governorships in these states. https://twitter.com/drjasonjohnson/status/1324378722867228673

The good news is that Jaime, Espy, Jones and @Booker4KY have all illustrated what Democrats really could do, with proper state party building. There's no reason, for instance, why the Black woman Chief Justice in NC or the Lieutenant Governor candidate there should have lost...

when Democratic governor McCrory won so handily. That's a state party organization issue. Ditto Biden not being able to carry that state. The SC race was other stuff, including and the national Dem party being too late to get in and build structural resources there.

But Democrats should absolutely keep playing in the South and use the gains they made this year, including in Texas! to build up those state parties. Georgia could easily be the new Virginia, based on the population growth and change. So could North Carolina.

These states are winnable. There are enough Black voters there and transplant white voters, plus the last surviving brave white southern Democrats (we now know the white women ex-Republican "wine moms" were a mirage.) Stay at it Dems. Just keep building!