CHATHAM - Tom Malinowski was talking Monday night about the past - and the future.

But first, let's set things up.

Malinowski, the former CD-7 congressman, was taking part in a campaign event with Analilia Mejia, the woman who narrowly beat him in February's Democratic primary, thereby ending his comeback in CD-11.

This was a sign of unity, but Malinowski wasn't even the biggest star in the room. That distinction belonged to Jamie Raskin, the Maryland congressman and ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee.

As the trio - a national political figure, a former House member and perhaps a future House member -  entered the borough-owned Stanley Center, each got a standing ovation from about 200-plus people jammed into the room. The borough, once a Republican stronghold, is now very 'blue."

As mentioned, this was a campaign event, but it was not a rah-rah type of thing.

Mejia, in fact, spent much of the time asking Raskin and Malinowski questions.

As it turned out, Malinowski saved the best, or at least, most pertinent observation for last.

He said that after Donald Trump won the 2024 election, he was worried

- worried because of what people were telling him.

That was that they were tired and even beaten down. After all, Dems had organized to win the 2018 midterms, the 2020 presidential election and now - Donald Trump had won again. Why do it all again?

Malinowski admitted he was not sure Dems would recover, and, say, bounce back in 2026.

But then ... he saw what happened.

He said he saw more activism and energy then even before with the "No Kings" rallies, Mikie Sherrill's big win, growing opposition to the war in Iran and a troubled economy. He said of the midterms:

"I have absolutely no doubt that this is going to be a landslide for the Democrats."

That would mean, of course, that Mejia will win the April 16 special election in CD-11 and also the regular election in November.

Raskin is  a former constitutional law professor. Regarding the midterms, he told the crowd that the nation is suffering from an undeclared war and that "we have to change the management" of Congress as soon as possible.

The crowd loved it, but November is still seven months away - seven long months for most in the room.

Raskin had an answer for that and he reached back to the Revolution to get it. He quoted Thomas Paine, who is memorialized in a statue just a few miles away in Morristown.

Reciting a famous Paine quote from memory, Raskin said:

"These are the times that try men's (and women's)  souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."