From New York Times opinion, this is the Ezra Klein Show. Democrats have a problem that runs deeper than the 2020 election. They have a problem that runs deeper than the 2024 election. They have a problem that runs deeper than

Elon Musk's assault on the government. Look at the places they govern. Strongholds like New York

and Illinois and where I'm from, California, they're losing people. In 2023, California saw

net loss of 268,000 residents. In New York, 179,000. Why are all these people leaving? In surveys, the dominant reason is simply this. The cost of living is too high. It's too expensive to buy a house. It's too expensive to get child care. You have to live

too far from your work. And so they're going to places where all of that is cheaper. Texas, Florida,

Arizona. I know these families. These families are my friends. I've lived with them in these places,

and I've watched many of them

move away from the place they love, the city they wanted to raise their children, because they could

not afford to live there. You cannot be the party of working families when the places you govern

or places working families cannot afford to live. You are not the party of working families when the places you govern or places working families cannot afford to live.

In the American political system, to lose people is to lose power.

If these trends hold, the 2030 census will shift the electoral college sharply to the right.

The states at Kamala Harris won in 2024. They'll lose about 11 house seats and electoral college sharply to the right. The states at Kamala Harris won in 2024,

they'll lose about 11 house seats and electoral college votes. The states of Trump won would

gain them. So in that electoral college, a Democrat could win every single state Harris won

in 2024 and also win Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and still lose the presidency.

There is a policy failure haunting blue states. It has become too hard to build and too expensive

to live in the places where Democrats govern. It's too hard to build homes. It's too hard to build

clean energy. It's too hard to build mass transit.

The problem isn't technical.

We know how to build apartment complexes.

We know how to lay down solar panels and transmission lines.

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