Democrats are at a crossroads over whether to reach across the aisle for legislative wins or stonewall President Donald Trump at all costs.
“I am definitely in the ‘Democrats need to raise hell’ camp,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said. “Voters aren’t in the calm mood, and I don’t think they are receptive to a Democratic Party that’s going to roll over and play dead.”
Democratic lawmakers have been hit with that reality in hostile town halls, in-person events that they thought would offer dunk fests on the Trump administration but have instead backfired. A majority of Democratic voters and independents who lean left say they want all-out resistance over bipartisanship.
“We want you to show some of the backbone and strategic brilliance that Mitch McConnell would have in the minority,” a man told Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) at a contentious town hall.
Another attendee, 71-year-old Debbie Mathis, told the Washington Examiner that “these are not normal times” and Democrats “need to fight differently.”
“It was a feel-good moment listening to Raskin,” a 57-year-old female federal worker, who was granted anonymity out of fear for her job, told the Washington Examiner after a town hall with Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and April McClain Delaney (D-MD). “But I’m still like, ‘Ugh, what are we going to do?’”
Across the country, swing-state Sens. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) were told at an equally tense constituent event to “fight dirtier” and “get in the mud” with Republicans.
Many Democratic lawmakers seem to agree, a position that was further underscored by the revolt against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for retreating from a government funding feud with Republicans to help prevent a shutdown. Ivey became one of the latest Democrats on Capitol Hill to advocate new Senate leadership.
“I think he’s had a great, long-standing career, but I’m afraid it may be time for Senate Democrats to choose a new leader,” Ivey told town hall attendees.
But armed with little power against the Trump administration with minorities in the House and Senate, Democrats have presented no concrete plans to anxious constituents concerned about the future of programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security under an administration determined to slash spending in Washington. They’ve acknowledged to furious voters that the courts are virtually the only avenue to block Trump’s overhaul of the federal government and sweeping cuts made by Elon Musk’s so-called DOGE efficiency agency.
The long-term remedy, Democrats say, is to take back power in the midterm elections.
“We have to fight [Republicans] down. We have to grind them to the point where they give up on this fight,” Gallego, who’s repeatedly declined to express confidence in Schumer, told constituents. “Because if you give an inch, they will take it all.”
Under Trump 2.0, Democrats have found themselves in dire circumstances.
The party is locked out of power in all branches of government, and its approval rating has hit a record low. Meanwhile, Trump is issuing executive orders at a historic clip to upend agencies, slash the federal workforce, and erase former President Joe Biden’s policy achievements.
The Democratic base is enraged, but the party remains staunchly divided on how to respond two months into his second term. Polling shows a majority of Democrats and Democratic-aligned independents, 57% to 42%, prefer blocking a GOP agenda over accomplishing Democratic policy wins.
Democrats who see a hair-on-fire situation, such as Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who was booted from Trump’s joint address to Congress for repeated outbursts, risk becoming a mockery on the Right. But many Democrats say they can’t afford to sit back and wait in hopes that Trump’s approval rating dips below 40%, a figure that Schumer and others cite as the magic number for Republicans to “resume working with us.”
Even the use of terms such as “constitutional crisis” has presented a rudimentary challenge to Democrats’ messaging.
Schumer will say the nation is in a constitutional crisis, according to excerpts of an interview that will air this weekend on NBC’s Meet the Press. He’ll also state that American democracy “is at risk” because of a “lawless, angry man” who “thinks he should be king.”
Raskin told constituents he’s scrapped the “constitutional crisis” phrase, which he said “makes it sound very passive and inert like it just happened to us.” He now prefers to say Trump is waging “an attack on the Constitution.” Raskin also encouraged House lawmakers privately to avoid the phrase, according to a member familiar with the matter.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) is among the few to publicly embrace the flip side of the argument. In a state where Trump won, the battleground senator sees the long-term success of recapturing lost seats contingent on Democrats’ ability to govern rather than resist.
“I have done as much as I feel like I’m capable of doing to respond in words to what Trump is doing, but I can’t just be an activist,” she said at a town hall.
Criticizing the progressive wing, Slotkin questioned what those like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who embarked on a “Fighting the Oligarchy” tour through swing states, have “actually done to change the situation with Donald Trump and the cuts and the attacks on our judiciary and the attacks on our constitution?”
“All of those things require me to be more than just an AOC,” Slotkin added. “I can’t do what she does because we live in a purple state, and I’m a pragmatist.”
Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, described the intraparty squabbling as superficial and a distraction from where the real focus should be: making Republicans go on defense.
“To save themselves, the ball is in the Republican court to explain why. It’s not the Democrats’ problem,” Sheinkopf said of Trump’s disruption to federal agencies. “If Democrats start railing and carrying on as individuals, they’re going to look foolish and partisan.”
Republicans have indeed faced their own backlash in recent weeks but have since largely avoided face-to-face encounters with constituents at the behest of House GOP leaders. Those still willing to engage through town halls, such as Reps. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) and Mike Flood (R-NE) have encountered a wave of hostile voters.
DEMOCRATS WEIGH CHANGE IN STRATEGY TO AVOID MIDTERM AND 2028 DEFEATS
Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the former Democratic vice presidential nominee, has appeared to strike an even less common middle-of-the-road approach. He’s made the case that Democrats can still raise hell while recognizing there’s improvements to be made in government.
“It’s going to get very dark,” Walz told CNN, suggesting Trump could order the arrest of political opponents. Speaking to Semafor, Walz said Democrats “need to acknowledge that not all these agencies work perfectly” and that the party should “start messaging right now.”
