Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois, on October 8, 2026. | Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty ImagesDemocrats had a better night than anyone expected on Tuesday, winning sweeping majorities in both the House and the Senate as voters turned away from President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Now, they have to figure out how to govern and contend with two more years of Trump’s presidency — and gear up to hold onto their new majorities in 2028.It’s a familiar situation for the party: Two decades ago, voters unhappy with President George W. Bush and the Iraq War propelled Democrats to congressional majorities in the 2006 midterms. Two years later, President Barack Obama won his first term and Democrats won even more seats in the House and Senate.Rahm Emanuel — a former US ambassador to Japan, Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff, and member of Congress — was there to witness it. He led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 when it led the charge for a Democratic House majority, and helped steer that majority from 2007 to 2009 as Democratic caucus chair.On Wednesday, he spoke with Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram about how Democrats should think about their midterms success, what they should — and shouldn’t — do with their new power in 2027, and what all of that means for 2028.Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.You’ve been here before personally, way back in 2006. It was a different Congress, a different president, certainly a different time. But can you tell people who don’t remember what position you were in back then?In 2006, I was chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and led the effort to take back the House. Nancy Pelosi became speaker and I became caucus chair. I also helped in the 2008 cycle, where we added another 20 seats. So Democrats were in around 254 seats when President Obama put his left hand on the Bible.And to put a finer point on it, George W. Bush is president in 2006. You guys win control of the House and Senate, and then use that control to notch another win in 2008. What did you do? What was the play?Let’s pull back a little, take a wider lens. One, this is a repudiation of the Republicans, not a vindication of the Democrats. I always thought that we were going to have a blue wave. This is a tsunami. These are Watergate numbers. But what we do in 2027 will determine whether we have won.The voters voted for change, not a Democratic version of more of the same. You have a broad-based coalition where non-MAGA Republicans and independents are giving the Democrats a second look. Solidify this as a working coalition. Make the election transformational, not transactional. Power-wash all of Washington, all three branches. Ban stock trading, ban prediction market participation, mandatory blind trust, mandatory term limits and/or retirement age.And then what I call the Jared Kushner rule. No foreign money while in government and no foreign money two years after. No Saudi and Qatari blind trust for you. Do the hearings, but produce a piece of legislation that acts on the hearings.Second, everything’s going up in price. What hasn’t? The minimum wage. The last time it went up, Nancy Pelosi was speaker. Pass a minimum wage, $20 by 2030.Third, repeal all these tariffs that are driving prices up. Everything I just told you, you’ll get bipartisan votes. And it puts Trump in a position: You sign it, we win; you veto it, we win.There’s obviously this tension between “legislate” and “investigate” right now. Based on last night, people want “legislate.” But a lot of the base wants justice. They want [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth out.They want their pound of flesh.Tell me how you think Democrats should balance the two.It’s not an either/or. You should do the investigations. Where is the Venezuela oil money? Where is Jared Kushner’s secret account with the Qatari money and the Saudi money? And what was he doing for them for that price?I’m all for that, but that’s not change. That’s the predicate. I’m against impeachment because it’s one person and you won’t get it done. All three branches need cleaning, not just one man. What about his Cabinet? Clean it all up.The job of the Democrats is to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Some Democrats may think that this is a vindication vote. I think it’s a repudiation vote and we will earn the victory in 2027 by producing change.Earn that trust, solidify that winning coalition that went from Texas to Maine. Solidify it. And I think if you listened to [House Democratic leader] Hakeem Jeffries last night, if you listened to [Senate Democratic leader] Chuck Schumer, they understand that the test is about to come. It isn’t behind us, it’s in front of us.Hakeem Jeffries feels a little unknowable sometimes. What do you think of him as speaker of the House?Well, it’s unfair because I’m close to him.So tell us what we don’t know about him.Pretty much all our conversations first start with what? Checking in on each other’s families. Now, we rush through it so we get to politics, but he takes his family seriously and his role as a parent very seriously.But now he’s very important to the country.I respect him for that. He’s also very observant and serious about his faith because I’ve gotten a number of texts back, “I can’t talk, I’m in service.” So I said, “Put the phone down, listen to the sermon, you’re going to need it.”The other thing is that he’s a consensus builder, but he does know what he wants to get done.He’s a consensus builder in a time where the Democratic tent feels like it’s never been bigger. Karl Rove’s in the tent now. How do you manage that tent?I used to say to Speaker Pelosi — when I was caucus chair and we were counting votes and trying to move X or Y — that Rep. Mo Udall used to have a great joke: “What is the difference between a cactus and a caucus? In a cactus, the pricks are on the outside.”With the numbers Hakeem will have, nobody can hold him hostage. When you’re at 221, everybody’s a kingmaker and they’re going to sit there and hold you hostage. When you’re at 250, Hakeem has the liberty to say, “When you walk out of here, make sure the door doesn’t hit you.”You told Democrats that they should go after Republicans in 2028. And there are people who hear you say that and they go, “Absolutely.” And there are people who hear you say that, they want to reach through their TV screens and choke you because they’re hearing this 2024 “Let’s go campaign with Liz Cheney” mindset that did not work.This is not a hypothetical. Go tell Kansas Sen. Adam Hamilton, who’s a former Republican. Neil Bush, who gave everybody a permission slip in Texas, said, “I’m voting for Talarico.”That’s an opening. What Kamala Harris did — they ran around talking about democracy. I’m talking about people’s pocketbooks. Having helped Sen. Hamilton, having helped Nancy Lacore, the [admiral] who just won in Charleston, South Carolina. Those are people that built a winning coalition.The fact is, to flip red to blue, you had to get Republican votes and independents. If you want to keep going and keep winning and solidifying this coalition, you have to know who was part of it. If you think you’re going to go into 2028 just on the backs of Democrats, God bless you. Swing voters in swing states swing presidential elections.I’ll give you an example. This will get me yelled at. President [Joe] Biden made a pledge in 2020 to govern and bring America together. He spent a good portion of his presidency bringing the party together, not the nation. And I think it cost him politically.Who do you like as a candidate in 2028? And you can’t pick yourself.I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to answer that. Because here’s the good news for you. In 2024, let’s be honest, the party didn’t have a choice. We were told who our nominee is.In 2028, you’re going to have Baskin-Robbins — 31 flavors. And if I decide to do this, you’re looking at Rocky Road.