How Democrats Are Meeting (and Missing) the Moment

“Well,” a senior Democratic strategist tells me, “my wife and I are having a fight about me going back to the field in the midterms.”

“I would be lying if I said these aren’t conversations I’ve been having with my family every day,” shared a Democratic candidate in a high-profile battleground state midterms race.

In a matter of days, the truly unthinkable occurred: On Thursday last week, Senator Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a news conference and handcuffed by officials wearing FBI-identifying clothing when he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on immigration raids in Los Angeles. On Saturday, Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark Hortman, were shot and killed. State senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman were also shot. On Tuesday, New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was violently arrested after accompanying an immigrant from a court appointment.

Not to mention the fact that an estimated 4 to 6 million people attended “No Kings” protests this past weekend against President Donald Trump’s administration.

How should Democrats be approaching this chaotic and, at times, violent moment? From lawmakers and candidates all the way down to the staff who fuel their operations, a series of events over the past week have made national Democrats reconsider their strategy. Following the shootings of the state lawmakers in Minnesota, a weekend of nationwide protests, and Democratic lawmakers in handcuffs, Democrats are trying to figure out what meeting the Trump moment really means for an out-of-power coalition that’s already under fire from constituents for ostensibly rolling over. And for a number of lawmakers and strategists, that answer isn’t so simple.

“I think that the hard reality is, a lot of Democrats and a lot of people say, like, why aren't we doing something?” David Axelrod, former President Barack Obama’s chief strategist from his 2008 and 2012 campaigns, tells WIRED. “Well, there are a limited number of ways in a democracy to do something, short of revolution—which I'm not advocating. You win elections, you go to court.”

He says Padilla was in the right but that Democrats should exercise caution and not play into the White House’s hands by rushing to get arrested or associating themselves too closely with protests that are unpredictable and prone to producing images of disorder. (Padilla’s office did not return a request for comment.)

Some laws of political gravity, Axelrod argues, still apply: “As a general rule, don’t do what your opponent wants.”

The issue isn’t just optics though, but expectation. “I think the last thing Dems want to do is look unhinged or out of control,” a GOP strategist tells me. Right-wing media, certainly, has had a field day: a Fox News prime time segment from Jesse Watters on Tuesday night painted Democratic protesters as hysterical and ineffective.

But Democratic voters might just want a strong, “unhinged” response. “Democrats are crying out for [a] fight,” the senior Democratic strategist tells me. “They are crying out for someone who seems like they’re fighting.”

Democrats have been deeply pessimistic about the future of their own party, according to polling, despite a recent rebound for the party brand in the generic ballot against Republicans, where they now lead by 2 points, their best performance since last August, according to YouGov’s latest survey.

Pennsylvania state representative Malcolm Kenyatta—a newly elected vice chair of the Democratic National Committee since David Hogg stepped down—tells WIRED optics should not be the primary consideration when it comes to whether lawmakers with oversight abilities should consider risking the chance of an arrest.

“Listen, I think we have a responsibility to do our fuckin’ job,” says Kenyatta, the grandson of civil rights leader Muhammad Kenyatta. “And what Senator Padilla was doing was his job.”

House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries of New York has often used the baseball analogy of not swinging at every pitch to explain how he thinks Democrats should respond to President Trump’s deluge of executive actions and outlandish statements.

For emerging leaders in the party like Kenyatta, the state of play has moved beyond that point.

“Things don’t become less important because a lot of them are happening,” Kenyatta says. “I don’t think we have the luxury of ignoring any of the things he does that are going to make life worse for people.”

Lander, who was detained outside of an immigration court hearing in New York City on Tuesday, took that exact type of risk. For the senior Democratic strategist fighting with his wife—who requested anonymity to avoid entangling other clients, and their spouse—Lander showed fellow Democrats how it should be done. (A representative for Lander did not return a request for comment.)

“Yes, this is exactly what people should be doing,” they say. “There are people who are going to say this whole thing is gimmicky, and I get that. Put some fucking skin in the game. We’ve gotta draw attention to it somehow—look at all of those cameras they had to arrest him in front of.”

But there are also very real security considerations. The battleground state candidate, who also requested anonymity to discuss sensitive security conversations, said the increased security posture lawmakers are dealing with has only made it harder to be as up close with voters, as regularly, in as many places.

“It’s this ugly reality where you have to look out for your safety. It is going to rob people of access to their elected officials and candidates,” they say.

This has happened already: Representative Hillary Scholten of Michigan postponed a Monday town hall in Muskegon after her name ended up on the alleged Minnesota shooter’s list of lawmakers to target. (Scholten’s office did not return a request for comment.)

Even so, the Democratic candidate wants their constituents to know they’re not alone, and they have every right to be angry.

"I am as angry as you are about our government and our elected officials,” they say. “I'm doing the hard thing. I'm putting my name on a ballot. I'm being vulnerable. I'm asking for people to support me, which is a fuck-ton harder than buying a gun and going and threatening people."

Who stands out to you as a lawmaker or candidate meeting the moment?

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🔗 Inside the Clashes Between Trump and Gabbard: Tulsi Gabbard is in a bind after more than two decades of pushing for an end to forever wars, and a rogue 3-minute video she recently released didn’t help. (Politico)

🔗 Comptroller Brad Lander Arrested by Masked Federal Agents While Escorting Immigrant from Court: A comprehensive write-up of how Brad Lander’s arrest went down, from an excellent local outlet in New York. (Hell Gate)

🔗 Bid to Protect Lawmakers’ Data Gains Momentum: The Minnesota shooter’s alleged use of data brokers has revived a bill in Congress that would allow lawmakers to remove personal data from the internet. (Semafor)

Our flagship show Uncanny Valley dives into some of the strange and disturbing hallucinations from AI chatbots around the Los Angeles protests—the same ones that would come up blank when users asked for information about the 2024 election. Listen now.

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