Despite the euphoria coursing through the progressive ecosphere in the wake of Tuesday’s midterm triumph, considerable anxiety exists about whether House and Senate elected Democrats “get it” — whether they understand the magnitude of the anger at MAGA rule and oligarchic elites and the demand for profound change. Fortunately, at least two major Democratic voices stepped forward the day after the midterm victory to show they fully grasp the moment and, more important, to offer procedural and substantive guidance for Democrats moving forward.
First, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, one of the top-tier 2028 presidential contenders, released a meaty policy agenda for the incoming Congress. NBC News reported on Wednesday on the wonkish 75-page plan (apparently months in the making) “with ideas on everything from increasing the federal minimum wage to restoring SNAP and Medicaid cuts.” Pritzker told NBC, “I believe that on Day One — and I literally mean Day One — that they should begin to introduce legislation. … I’m looking for very quick action.” He continued, “I believe that there are big things and small things that need to be done, and they need to be done swiftly.”
Pritzker included some 200 items on topics including housing, immigration (“halting indiscriminate and outsized immigration round-ups and the mass deportation agenda, strengthen oversight, pursue accountability, and advance common sense immigration reform”), restoration of SNAP and Medicaid benefits, protection of abortion access, care for people with disabilities, veterans services, civil rights and voting protections, Education Department funding, college debt relief, and consumer protections. In just the Health and Human Services arena, he presented a batch of items from restoring staffing and research in “evidence-based human services” slashed by DOGE (including gender identity, transgender, and LGBTQIA+ treatment) to reinstating vaccine mandates to reengaging with the World Health Organization.
Pritzker also made a cogent point that Democrats should not get hung up on the threat of presidential vetoes. (“Even if Trump vetoes a restoration of those programs, they should pass it,” he said. “It needs to be clear that this is the direction that the country wants to go, and if Donald Trump wants to stand in the way, that’s obviously on him. But we’ve got to pass these.”)
Though the plan does not cover every domestic agenda item and leaves open specifics (e.g. the exact level for an increased federal minimum wage), it underscores several imperatives for Democrats: undo as much of the harm Trump has inflicted, be aggressive, and embrace the utility of government (which Trump has done everything to undermine). Democrats should be heartened when voters tell them by double-digit margins (in midterm exit polling) that they want the federal government to play a bigger role in helping Americans get healthcare and think the Trump regime has made healthcare worse and less accessible and actually increased fraud in the system. Democrats who support a functional, effective, and responsive government to help ordinary people are likely to find an appreciative audience
For Pritzker, his plan rollout certainly makes plain his presidential ambitions, but no one sanguine about national politics would begrudge him that. However, he also leaves open plenty of room for innovation that goes well beyond simply putting back the services and money Trump’s regime stripped out of government. The two-step plan — stop the pain and then go on offense — makes governing and political sense. There will be plenty of time for major reforms (e.g. some variation of Medicare for All, tax reform) but packaging multiple key items together for quick passage would show voters that Democrats are serious about bringing the curtain down on the Trump era.
The second Democrat to step forward in the wake of the midterms, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), addressed an issue very much on activists’ minds: Senate leadership. Bloomberg reported that Van Hollen doesn’t want Democrats to commit to supporting Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) for majority leader sight unseen.
Van Hollen told Bloomberg: “No one should be committing to anybody as the next Democratic leader without having that conversation. We need commitments.” He added, “Working people have been screwed for way too long, and we need to unrig an economy that’s been built to serve billionaires and big corporations.” In case it wasn’t clear, he reiterated, “It’s not a time for incrementalism. It’s a time to move forward a very bold kitchen table agenda.”
That could entail everything from a firm commitment to defunding the Iran war and ICE to a promise on regulating Big Tech and impeachment hearings. Senate Democrats should be adamant that they will confirm no more federal court judges, slash funding for bogus commissions, engage in active litigation against the regime, and advance AI and Supreme Court reform. They could also demand that rogue members (looking at you, Sen. John Fetterman) lose committee assignments.
For Van Hollen and many like-minded Democrats, the point is to set a tone in which Democratic leadership is not going hat-in-hand to Trump to get micro-deals but rather advance their own bold ideas, which in turn would dare Trump to veto popular items and/or shut down the government.
Progressives do not want a repeat of the debacle in which the shutdown over ACA subsidies ended with an about-face from Schumer allies like Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Likewise, they have no interest in allowing Trump to pose as a responsible dealmaker when the results would inevitably be paltry and merely perpetuate the pain of millions of Americans.
Democrats should applaud and encourage the undaunted, bold leadership of Pritzker and Van Hollen as they embark on the next two years. Democrats need policy substance but also an attitude adjustment if they are going to keep the MAGA forces back on their heels and keep the faith with voters who sent them to or kept them in Washington. While many activists would like a change in Senate leadership right now, personality-focused infighting would chew up scarce time during the lame duck and turn the focus from voters to politicians. Instead, preventing Democrats from doing dumb things (e.g. confirm no more judges, no extended continuing resolution) and getting them in fighting mode and geared up to hit the ground running in January should be top priorities.
Pritzker and Van Hollen deserve credit and praise for helping that process along and for signaling to the Democratic leadership that it will not be business as usual.
