What if the Democrats created an endless number of $50/hour jobs in swing states?

By Mike Reid | September 2025

A lot of Democrats still seem baffled by how Trump won in 2024.

So let me explain how presidential elections work:

In modern American presidential elections, there are only seven states that actually matter — Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.

And in 2020, Joe Biden won six of the seven swing states.

But then in 2024? (You know, after Democrats spent most of the 2024 campaign arguing that Joe Biden was most definitely NOT too old to serve a second term, and then, at that debate, Joe Biden....)

Well, in 2024 Trump won all seven swing states — but just barely.

Because that's the thing about swing states: swing states are always close; that’s why they’re called swing states.

No. Trump didn’t crush Democrats everywhere in 2024.

He simply eked out small-margin wins in the seven swing states.

So here’s the plan: Let's not wait until 2028 to think about how to win in 2028. Let's start now. Let's launch permanent job-creation programs in every swing state, kickstarted by millionaires and billionaires who can afford to throw down $50k like it’s nothing.

And here’s the kicker: these are $50/hour jobs that don’t evaporate the morning after Election Day. They’re fun, energizing jobs — the kind that bring people together, that feel exciting for the workers, and make politics feel less like homework and more like a party.

So my Democratic compatriots, welcome to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station — just 70 minutes from Baltimore on Amtrak, 90 minutes from New York, and under two hours from DC.

Philadelphia is not only a beautiful city, but also located in swing state America — the perfect launch hub for our first Pennsylvania job-creation program, soon to spread westward to Pittsburgh and every town in between. And let’s not forget: with 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is the single biggest prize on the swing state map.

From there? Off to Detroit. Beautiful, gritty, rising Detroit.

Detroit's already on the rebound, but an infusion of political fun and $50/hour jobs would accelerate that growth in a way voters will really feel. And the wild thing? Detroit is only a 90-minute flight from Baltimore, and still in the Eastern Time Zone. With Michigan’s 15 electoral votes and easy expansion into Grand Rapids, Lansing, and even Kalamazoo, it’s a no-brainer.

Then there’s Wisconsin — land of cheese, land of heartbreakingly close elections. Biden squeaked by with a 20,000-vote win in 2020, Trump flipped it back with less than 30,000 votes in 2024. That’s nothing. So let’s stop playing defense and just move into Milwaukee right now. From there, it’s off to Green Bay, Oshkosh, and beyond.

Now head west — Vegas, baby, Vegas. And right next door? Arizona, with Phoenix, Tucson, and cactuses for days. Together, Arizona and Nevada deliver 17 electoral votes — almost as many as Pennsylvania — and they’re just one state over from California, where Democrats and donor dollars overflow.

Finally, Georgia and North Carolina. Sixteen electoral votes apiece.

Georgia — land of Democratic dreams. North Carolina — always promising to flip, rarely delivering, but remember: Obama carried it in 2008 and Democrats can do it again, twenty years later in 2028.

So there you have it: Beginning in Baltimore, expanding to West Virginia, and then to Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina.

And if we start building now, then by the start of 2028 — when the presidential race kicks into gear — we’ll already have thousands of jobs created, voters in swing states already working for our projects, and the plan in place to create tens of thousands more jobs.

Because let’s be honest: the party that creates an unlimited number of $50/hour jobs is going to win the 2028 election in a landslide.

So what are you waiting for?

Let’s get this job-creation show on the road — literally!