The Democrats have also ignored outreach to their base — including communities of color — opting instead to chase the elusive suburban soccer mom and field bland, unwinnable candidates with weak and stale messages. A postmortem of the 2016 election criticized the Democrats for, among other things, failing to prioritize fighting voter suppression, embrace social movements or expand and energize the base, turning off working-class voters with a hawkish stance, ignoring rural America and the youth-driven Bernie Sanders movement, and placing corporate profits over the needs of the public.

Conventional wisdom dictated that only moderate white Democratic candidates — such as former senatorial candidates Michelle Nunn in Georgia, Claire McCaskill in Missouri and Phil Bredesen in Tennessee could win in the South and Midwest. However, these candidates did not necessarily speak to or reflect the diversity of the party — particularly African-Americans, who consistently are reliable Democratic voters.

But 2019 presents a chance for a reset. The newly elected members of the House are not the usual suspects — they are everyday people whose presence demands new policies and threatens to upend the way Washington does business.