Progressive stars Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew large crowds in recent days as they made stops in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado as part of a "fighting oligarchy" tour to rally supporters unsettled by the actions of the Trump administration.
The tour is part of Democrats' response to constituents demanding they be more aggressive as the opposition party. At town halls across the country, Democrats acknowledged their limitations and pointed ahead to the midterms as their chance to become a bulwark against GOP control.
But Democrats' path to retaking the House of Representatives likely runs through districts that President Trump won.
Only 13 House Democrats won in districts that also went for Trump, and for many in that cohort, talking about being the resistance party isn't enough.
"It can't just be why we're against Trump and what's wrong with Trump," said Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.
Suozzi and other Democrats who represent districts won by Trump told NPR if the party wants to take back the House, it needs to do more than fight back — it needs a new strategy.
'The Democratic brand has been damaged'
Suozzi won in a district that went for former President Joe Biden in 2020 and swung to Trump four years later. He replaced former GOP Rep. George Santos in a special election after Santos was expelled by Congress.
He said Democrats have a damaged brand.
"When you ask people, what do the Republicans stand for? They say, 'well, Make American Great Again, they want to cut the size of government, they want to give tax cuts,'" Suozzi said. "And what do the Democrats stand for? I think people are kind of scratching their heads a little bit — they believe in choice and LGBT rights — which I believe in those things too — but I don't know you can build a whole party around that."
Suozzi said Democrats need to lay out a compelling thesis with specifics about how they'll improve the quality of people's lives, pointing to policies like increasing the minimum wage.
"We need to do more things that show we are in favor of creating jobs that pay good wages to people that are willing to work hard," he said. "That is part of the historic Democratic brand and we've just lost that."
He ascribes that loss partly to the party being hyper-focused on identity issues and amplifying far-left voices.
"We have been too intimidated by political correctness to speak out and say, I don't think that transgender women should be playing in competitive women's sports. We have to say that," he said. "Ninety-five percent [of Democrats] don't believe in any of the far-left agenda that we've been painted with."
Suozzi himself won on an issue that traditionally puts Democrats on the defense — immigration.
"I said, we have to secure the border," he said. "The consultants come to me and they say, well, Tom, you know, that's a Republican issue. I don't know if you should be talking — I said, no, this is what people in my district are talking about. We can't ignore what people are talking about."
In the new Congress, dozens of House Democrats — including most in Trump-won districts, joined their GOP colleagues in supporting a bill that would make it easier for federal immigration officials to detain and deport those without legal status who are charged with crimes.
It's still the economy, stupid
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, the longest-serving woman in Congress, won one of the closest races in the last election. She said her party needs to expand its coalition and bring people who voted for Trump into the fold.
"They heard President Trump say, 'Make America Great Again.' That was something they want to do, and they know where they live isn't. They've seen factories close," Kaptur said in an interview. "We need to keep our eyes laser beam focused on how do we expand opportunity."
Kaptur said while Democrats are good at defending programs like Medicaid to the public, they fall short in sharing plans to grow the economy.
"I have different mottos I live by, and one of them is: economics is not destiny, but it is 85% of it," she said. "Democrats better shape up and put together a plan for progress starting in the places that have fallen behind where people are voting for change simply because the economy is not working for them."
Fellow Democratic Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico agrees. He represents a majority Hispanic district where Trump has made inroads.
He said there isn't a "special formula" of winning a battleground district other than taking time to understand the concerns of constituents — which may be different than national issues du jour.
"I take cues from my own family — I come from a working class family and I pay attention to what they're saying," he said. "When we talk about what's important to them, it's always economic issues. That's the family conversation I have at my house and I think the Democratic caucus should reflect those conversations."
Searching for the next batch of Democrats to win critical seats
One of the people tasked with finding a new crop of Democratic candidates to win in key races is Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., who was recently tapped to be a recruitment co-chair for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
"It's a relatively narrow battlefield," he said. "Our bench needs to be reinvigorated and we need to look in different places. People want folks who have built businesses, served the country in uniform, maybe served as a sheriff's deputy, a nurse, who have actually done things and understand what it's like to maybe not know where your rent or mortgage money is going to come from for next month."
He's already had success in this arena. He flipped his seat in 2018 and helped recruit Democratic candidates with backgrounds in the military and national security to run last cycle for local, state and national office. He said two-thirds of his endorsed candidates won their races.
"One of the biggest lessons should be that we have an issue with how we're perceived in vast swaths of America, rural America, working class America," he said of Democrats, adding it's critical the party reintroduce itself to those parts of the country.
The fact that the next time the public votes for Congress there won't be a presidential candidate on the ticket brings some benefits to Democrats. Although constituents on the ground are clamoring for a central figurehead to lead the Democratic Party, that comes with its own challenges — particularly when Democrats in key districts need to appeal to people who voted for Trump.
"I grew up in a conservative, working class family. A lot of my family support President Trump," Crow said. "So I view all of this through that lens. And what I know is that no slogan, no branding, no topline messaging are going to get us out of this."
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