2024 Democratic get out the vote effort
It’s no secret that Donald Trump and his administration are going around wrecking the government, as well as many of our protections, from environmental to labor to financial to health, and more. It’s going to be a bad four years not just for Democrats, but for most Republicans, Independents and everyone else. But at least the 2026 midterm elections present a big opportunity for Democrats to take back power, especially in the razor-close U.S. House of Representatives, and thwart some of the very bad things the Republicans are trying to do legislatively.
We already talked about how Democrats can and must unify to win the 2026 midterms. The other thing the Democratic Party will need is an effective, unifying theme on which to campaign. While it’s still very early, some obvious patterns are forming that will lend themselves to such a theme.
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the popular Democratic blog Daily Kos, thinks that he has the perfect 2026 Democratic theme: “Trump is a Disaster.” Well, that’s obvious. Of course Democrats have to run on some form of “Trump is a disaster” in 2026. It’s the midterms, and the minority party running against the incumbent president of the other party always does that. Otherwise, why should voters make a change?
But “Trump is a disaster” was already a big part of the 2024 campaign. We had the experience of one Trump term, and Democrats did run against his disasters, such as the COVID failure, the Muslim Ban, the kids in cages, and the 2020 Trump Recession. And, while the election was close, that 2024 Democratic campaign ultimately was not successful.
It may a bit early to know what the campaign theme should be for 2026. However, Democrats would be wise to target some of those 88 million or so eligible voters who didn’t vote in 2024, many of whom are going to be feeling the hurt from the Trump/GOP policies. Thus, we think a good theme for the Democrats will be along the lines of:
This theme will become more clear as Trump and his administration implement more and more policies. For example, while Trump and the Republicans ran against inflation, including high egg and grocery prices, their current deportation and tariff plans will raise, not lower, prices. And Trump’s latest plans to take over Gaza and build a fancy resort there will not only hurt Palestinians and their relatives and supporters in the USA, it likely will end up being a boondoggle for Trump’s rich construction company cronies, at the U.S. taxpayers’ expense.
It will soon be obvious, if it isn’t obvious already, that Trump and the Republicans don’t care about everyday Americans, especially when compared to the policies of the Democrats (fair taxation, clean environment, job creation, reduced gun violence, affordable healthcare, etc.)
Of course, such a campaign theme includes “Trump is a disaster” by implication.
Photo by Rick Obst, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/Y28kI1