(BALTIMORE) — I called Alice Torriente twice: once while polls were still closing on election night, and again the next morning.
Torriente, who chaired Baltimore Women for Obama in 2008, has been in this work a long time. Between those two calls, the political landscape shifted.
Election night
When I first reached her, results were starting to trickle in. Torriente had been tracking reports of long voting lines in Detroit, Arizona, and Texas.
“It’s been kind of interesting,” she said. “So we’re just waiting to see.”
Early returns were appearing from Kentucky while voters elsewhere were still casting ballots. Kentucky and Indiana close in stages because they span two time zones.
“They don’t have a whole lot from them because the polls ain’t closed yet,” she said.
She follows election coverage the way some of us follow the Ravens.
“I don’t like to hear the news too much. I just watch the visuals,” she said.
But one state had her full attention.
“I’m waiting for Michigan,” she said. “That’s what I’m waiting for.”
She was watching the Senate race and how the campaign had played out among Black voters. She called Abdul El-Sayed “a very capable candidate” and described a church gathering where, in her telling, supporters of a rival campaign received a muted response.
When the preacher mentioned El-Sayed, who wasn’t there, the reaction changed.
“The people blew the roof off the place,” she said. “They’re screaming for him, and he’s not even there.”
The morning after
When I called back, she had been up most of the night.
How did she feel?
“Tired,” she said.
Then: “I’m happy. Very happy.”
Michigan had come through. El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers and will become the nation’s first Muslim U.S. senator. Democrats also won majorities in both chambers of Congress, positioning them to take control in January.
But what moved Torriente most was who had won.
“We have a lot of African-American elected officials in positions that they were not in before,” she said. “Atlanta showed out. They got a whole bunch of Black folks elected.”
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s governor’s race, becoming the first Black woman elected governor of a U.S. state.
“Keisha Lance Bottoms did her thing,” Torriente said.
In Nevada, Aaron Ford defeated Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo, becoming that state’s first Black governor.
She was also pleased that Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar won re-election.
Closer to home, Gov. Wes Moore easily won a second term. Torriente said television coverage was already “pumping him up,” discussing “him and his potential.”
She also welcomed New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker’s re-election.
“Knew that was going to happen.”
The candidates she wanted the party to support
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith remained locked in an extraordinarily close contest Wednesday morning. The race was uncalled, with absentee and affidavit ballots still outstanding.
“That’s a hell of a race,” Torriente said.
In her view, national Democrats had underestimated him.
“The Democrats didn’t give him no play, no money, no nothing.”
Why?
“Because they didn’t think he had a chance, and it’s unfortunate,” she said.
She expressed similar frustration about Florida Democrat Angie Nixon, who lost to Republican Sen. Ashley Moody.
“They didn’t support Angie Nixon as they should have either,” Torriente said. “My heart is broken.”
I asked whether she believed the party was failing its most loyal voters.
“Not all of them. Some of them,” she said. “The majority of them got support, but a couple of them did not. That’s some of the leadership, some of the folks in the Democratic Party.”
She nevertheless credited Democrats with recruiting “really stellar candidates.”
Maine’s campaign concerned her particularly. Original Democratic nominee Graham Platner withdrew in July following sexual assault allegations, which he denied. Democrats selected Troy Jackson to replace him; Jackson went on to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
The work ahead
Why does the congressional majority matter so much to her?
“Because we can stop Trump,” she said.
She wants Democrats to challenge his policies, particularly tariffs and cuts affecting families.
Impeachment, she said, remains a wait-and-see question. But she wants investigations and accountability, including scrutiny of what she called “grifting.”
She pointed to the Kennedy Center. Senate Democrats have investigated allegations of favoritism and financial misconduct under former president Richard Grenell, who denied wrongdoing. Those allegations are not findings of criminal guilt.
“There’s so much stuff to start with,” Torriente said.
Her priorities are specific: reverse the tariffs, restore food assistance to families who lost it, and “get the healthcare stuff in place.”
She also wants Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel out of their jobs.
Then she raised another concern: the experience lost when senior military leaders leave government. Reporting has documented nearly two dozen generals, admirals, and other military leaders who were fired, forced to retire, or otherwise left during Hegseth’s tenure.
“They were the most senior military people with the most experience,” Torriente said.
Even if some have retired, she believes their expertise should remain available.
“Somebody needs to pull them back to the table, because that’s too much institutional knowledge to let go.”
I agreed. When institutions push out their wisest counsel—the people who know the history—they risk losing knowledge they cannot easily replace.
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