They called him “racist” for some of his early immigration rhetoric, “Islamophobic” for his enacted Muslim ban during his first presidency, and overwhelmingly voted to impeach him twice.
Yet, Trump won the presidency again. So for better or for worse, they must try to work with him in order to get things done.
Here are some of the Democrats who seem to be willing to work with Trump in the next four years.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA)
Fetterman could be the most willing out of any Democrat to work with Trump. He immediately joined Truth Social following Trump’s election and has said the president-elect should be pardoned for his “bull-s***” hush-money case.
He’s met with Trump Cabinet nominees Pete Hegseth, Elise Stefanik, and Tulsi Gabbard and said he’s just “doing my job” in response to controversy surrounding his willingness to work with Trump’s nominees. “Those individuals can vent or rant on Twitter, but I’m here to have conversations, and I think I’m just doing my job,” he said.
He already said he’s voting for Stefanik to be Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations, though she’s likely to receive other votes from Democrats as well.
It’s likely that Fetterman’s moves come as a result of Republicans winning his state for the first time since 2016. With red-state politicians like Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and Joe Manchin (I-WV) on the way out, Fetterman could stand out as another independent mind in the Senate.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL)
Moskowitz has always been considered a bipartisan Democrat who has bent closer to Republicans on Israel and fiscal policy. But his announcement that he will join the DOGE Caucus indicates he’s willing to work closely with Trump surrogates Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
“On some issues I’m progressive. On other issues I’m conservative, and I think that’s how most of my constituents are,” Moskowitz told NPR. “We take it issue by issue.”
Though Moskowitz later said many of the things the DOGE co-chairs propose will not work, but that he is looking “forward to that conversation.” He’s hoping to push a bill to remove FEMA and the Secret Service from the Department of Homeland Security. FEMA, he says, is too important to be part of DHS and the Secret Service should report directly to the White House along with them.
Moskowitz has also spoken fondly of Trump cabinet nominees Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Congrats to my #SneakerCaucus co-chair @LChavezDeRemer,” he posted on X.
As for Kennedy, he remarked that he’d support a plan from him to make all Coke “Mexican Coke,” solely using cane sugar for sweetener.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY)
Hochul is one of the few state-level Democrats who have been open to the idea of Trump working with her to make New York better. She spoke with Trump after his victory in the presidential election.
“There are areas where we can work together, like infrastructure where we rely on federal money, and he seems to share my priorities, but also I’m going to stand up for protecting rights, reproductive rights, and other rights,” she said at a news conference.
Her stance is unlike Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA), who has geared up his state to resist the Trump administration with expected legal battles over immigration. Hochul hasn’t struck the same tone on that issue with Trump, recently saying she would be the “first one” to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement if undocumented immigrants break the law.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Warren, who Trump once repeatedly labeled “Pocahontas” for her alleged Native American ancestry, is an unlikely ally of the president-elect. But Warren and other Democrats have already vowed to work with Trump on a key issue: credit card interest rates.
Trump said before the election that he would support capping interest rates at 10%.
“President Trump announced during his campaign that he intended to put a 10 percent interest rate cap on consumer credit,” Warren told Politico. “Bring it on.”
She added, “If he refuses to follow through on the campaign promises that would help working people, then he should be held accountable.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Sanders, like Warren, also pledged to work with Trump on credit cards.
“If Trump wants to impose a credit card limit on interest rates, I’ll be there,” Sanders said. “If he comes up with reasonable ideas, yes, I would be interested in working with him.”
But the Vermont senator has signaled his support for Trump’s agenda in other areas as well.
Elon Musk, Trump’s DOGE co-chairman, blasted the Pentagon in a November op-ed along with his co-chairman, Vivek Ramaswamy, for failing its seventh consecutive audit. Sanders agrees that the Pentagon’s budget must be tracked and potentially trimmed.
“Elon Musk is right. The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It’s lost track of billions. Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud,” Sanders said. “That must change.”
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Musk and Sanders also agree that weight-loss drugs like Ozempic should be cheaper for the public. The Tesla owner believes it could cut healthcare costs.
“Solving obesity greatly reduces risk of other diseases, especially diabetes, and improves quality of life. We do need to find a way to make appetite inhibitors available to anyone who wants them,” he said.
