It wasn’t long after Democrats claimed victory across huge swaths of the nation on Tuesday night that Republicans started pointing fingers at one another. Meanwhile, Democrats, riding high on the promise of a congressional majority, started pointing to their work.
Pete Buttigieg, the former transportation secretary, posted more than 30 photos of himself campaigning with winning candidates as their race calls rolled in. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky each posted a dozen such photos.
The biggest names in Democratic politics had helped midterm candidates raise money, court voters and generate buzz, in some cases spending months traveling the country to campaign. Now they want to share in the victory lap, even if they themselves weren’t on the ballot.
Their efforts weren’t always purely altruistic: Many of this cycle’s busiest campaign surrogates are mulling 2028 presidential runs, and hitting the trail can be a prime opportunity to road-test ideas and build a national brand. And picking winners, of course, is generally a good look.
Here are some of the Democratic heavyweights who made big bets that paid off this midterm season.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the democratic socialist from the Bronx, focused much of her campaigning this year on New York, but there was a major exception: Michigan.
One of the party’s top fund-raisers, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for Senate in Michigan, then campaigned with him and transferred $1 million to an account to help him get elected — a huge sum for a House member to devote to a Senate contest.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who is considering a run for president in 2028, made clear that she saw Mr. El-Sayed’s race as a test of the broader progressive movement’s electoral appeal. During a private fund-raiser, she said that “if Abdul can win in Michigan, anybody can win anywhere.” This week, he did just that.
Former President Barack Obama
Former President Barack Obama has considerable sway in a Democratic Party without an obvious standard-bearer. So it was notable when, in May, he showed up at a taco joint in Austin, Texas, with Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico.
“Do you know our outstanding next governor and senator?” Mr. Obama asked as he went from table to table. His wishful question proved prophetic: Both candidates won their elections.
Aside from a late blitz in a handful of battlegrounds, the former president was very selective about showing support for candidates. But he used those occasional interventions to cultivate a new generation of Democratic leaders who, like him, aim to build bridges across party lines.
His record this cycle was strong: Mr. Obama made one of his first formal endorsements in July by filming a video in which he shot hoops with Josh Turek, a centrist state lawmaker and Paralympian running for Senate. Mr. Turek won, becoming Iowa’s first Democratic senator in a decade.
Senator Raphael Warnock
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democratic senator from Georgia, has been one of the loudest voices calling on Democrats to invest more resources in the South.
Mr. Warnock, who may be eyeing a 2028 presidential bid, focused his own midterm efforts there and urged others to do the same: “As goes the South, so goes the nation,” he said while campaigning in North Carolina.
And this week, Democrats delivered some of their most stunning electoral performances in the region in races that Mr. Warnock had prioritized earlier and more heavily than many other Democrats had.
He campaigned in South Carolina with Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who defied expectations by flipping a Senate seat in one of the country’s most conservative states; in North Carolina with Roy Cooper, a former governor who flipped another Senate seat; and in Mississippi with Scott Colom, a prosecutor who remains locked in a close Senate race against a Republican incumbent.
“We can win in Mississippi, but even if we don’t, it would be foolhardy for Democrats not to lean into that state,” Mr. Warnock told The New York Times before the election.
Former Secretary Pete Buttigieg
Mr. Buttigieg was one of the cycle’s most prolific campaigners.
He endorsed more than 100 candidates and appeared at events in more than 30 states. He focused his efforts on Democrats running to flip Republican-held House seats, and those candidates scored victories across the country.
Mr. Buttigieg campaigned with 29 candidates running to flip seats this year; at least 20 of them pulled it off.
He was the only national surrogate to campaign in North Carolina with Jamie Ager, a farmer who won a House district that President Trump had carried by 10 points, according to Grayson Barnette, Mr. Ager’s campaign manager. And Mr. Buttigieg was early to endorse Mr. Turek during a competitive primary in which some polls had shown him trailing.
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