Video by Faiz Shakir, Chai Dingari, Sam Quigley, and Ian McKenna
Economic populism helped deliver impressive victories for Democrats across the nation, but those gains might not last. Where do Democrats go from here?
Between affordability crises and broken political promises, Americans have been failed by the Trump administration. Democratic midterm candidates seized the opportunity to create a platform centering economic populist ideals and prioritizing working-class voters.
Across Texas, the Carolinas, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Michigan, and many others, Democrats and progressive candidates rallied the voters who felt abandoned by politics, and it paid off. Big time. Democrats now control the House and the Senate, multiple states’ legislatures, and elected Democratic Socialists to lead major cities. But this blue midterm tsunami is meaningless if Democrats don’t follow through.
More Perfect Union founder Faiz Shakir lays out a five-step plan for Democrats to fulfill promises to the working-class voters they spent a year courting. Voters showed up for Democrats. It’s time for Democrats to show up for us.
- End the forever wars: Cut funding for military action and demand an immediate end to foreign wars.
- Tax the wealthy: Raise the cap on taxable income on Social Security to keep essential social programs sustainably funded into the future.
- Raise the minimum wage: Ensure everyone is paid a living wage across the country.
- Provide affordable healthcare: Break up Big Medicine’s corporate monopolies to provide better healthcare for all people.
- Rein in Big Tech: Put a pause on destructive data centers and limit Silicon Valley’s political control.
TRANSCRIPT
FAIZ SHAKIR, MORE PERFECT UNION: To understand what happened in the midterm elections, take a look at this chart:
Two years ago, Trump made his biggest gains where wages had fallen the most.
In this election, low-income counties shifted democratic by over 20 points. Republicans’ advantage in rural America shrank by double digits. So what happened?
The media story is that Trump lost working people. That’s true, but if you follow More Perfect Union, that’s pretty obvious. On the surface, Democrats seem to be the party of the working class again,
JAMES TALARICO, TEXAS SEN.-ELECT SPEECH: The real fight in this country is not left versus right. It is top versus bottom.
ABDUL EL-SAYED, MICHIGAN SEN.-ELECT, CSPAN CLIP: We showed that in a battle between the money and the many — that the many really can win…
ANNIE ANDREWS, SOUTH CAROLINA SEN.-ELECT SPEECH: …in a politics dominated by billionaires and special interest groups. We will not bow down.
SHAKIR: But this movement could be either short-lived or durable. From what I’ve seen, on the ground, in exit polls and in campaign spending, we’ll discuss what could make this a political realignment rather than a reaction and what Democrats could do right now to deliver on their biggest campaign promise:
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