As I write this post, the 2026 midterm elections in the United States are two months away. If the sentiment of the electorate as described in mainstream media and polling aggregations is to be believed, Democratic candidates have an excellent opportunity to perform well in Congressional elections thereby erecting a bulwark of resistance to Trump and the MAGA movement.

However, these same sources are also quite consistent in describing the Democrats unfavorably as being out of touch with the needs of regular people. The charges against the Democrats that led to the re-election of Trump in 2024 may have softened, but the liabilities used to effectively label the Democrats as overly concerned about marginal groups and esoteric issues with a veneer of overall weakness remains as a serious electoral disadvantage.

Nevertheless, the growing disenchantment with Trump and his administration’s policies and conduct have voters searching for an alternative to the widely perceived chaos and mismanagement of national affairs. Therefore, eyes have shifted to the only viable alternate option available given our political system; and that is the Democratic Party. To win in 2026 and beyond, Democrats need to not simply be the anti-Trump replacement but must construct a relevant and appealing vision that resonates with and attracts voters.

To this end, what follows is a list of priorities that I think the party should follow. Now, I get that a multi-point list is exactly one of those tactics Democrats are often criticized for by people who think Dems are too erudite. It is a move consistent with the college-educated rational and analytical approach that looks great “on paper” but does not often translate well into meaningful action or to connect with average people. At least that is the charge. Nevertheless, guidelines, a scorebook, a set of priorities that identifies the issues, and preferences that unite the party around common themes which lead to policy prescriptions is useful. And if there is one thing Democrats need to do a better job of right now, it is this…Democrats need to get their act together!

The Democratic Party has traditionally been a big tent party, which means that both similar and disparate groups of voters are aligned in an intricate and at times knotty political coalition. The throughline of advocacy for everyday people can be tenuous or steadfast depending on the election cycle. The lack of uniformity, unlike the relative consistency often observed in the Republican Party, can be both a strength and a liability. A big tent alliance can construct broad electoral support, but it can also descend into fractious infighting. Democrats are experienced at both.

At present, the contours of the coalition breadth of the Democratic Party are still being defined as we head into the 2026 midterm elections. One obvious reality is that inclusiveness prevails. An example is to look at two recently elected Democratic mayors, one from New York City and one from Miami, and how they approach the affordability issue. Zohran Mamdani brings an aggressive activist government approach that is redistributive in nature. He sees resource discrepancies as class-based requiring a strong interventionist incursion as to how capital and opportunity are broadly made available to city residents. Eileen Higgins of Miami, on the other hand, is more concerned about how government can cooperatively interact with the private sector to spur more affordable housing and deliver city services more effectively by streamlining permitting processes and eliminating bottlenecks that have led to a lack of productivity and trust in city government. Both mayors know their residents well and the political necessities of reaching them. Local approaches to national issues matters greatly into how successful Democratic candidates will fare.

Examples like the one above abound within the Democratic Party. We see interpretive ranges of the Democratic message extending from Congressional candidate Bobby Pulido, a Rio Grande valley resident with rural and Hispanic roots who is all about meeting the needs of the poorest district in Texas to Boston Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley known as a staunch urban progressive pressing hard for initiatives like The Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all; or Ro Khanna, an energetically outspoken liberal Congressman from Silicon Valley California to Jon Ossoff, the current U.S. Senator from Georgia whose moderate positions on many issues is favored in a conservative state. The beauty of a midterm election is that we do not need a one-size-fits-all national candidate who can stitch together all these diverse localities. Rather, we need Democrats who can address clearly and fittingly the needs and issues of voters on their home turf.

What follows is my list of what I see as the prerogatives of prime concern for the Democratic Party now. From this inventory one will find the content necessary to construct a contest against a Republican opponent. However, a campaign is as much an affective initiative as it is a rational one. The spirit, the enthusiasm, and the emotional connection between a candidate and their electorate matters as much as the sum and substance of policy positions.

There are two important considerations in this regard. One is that many voters are not going to engage in comparative analyses among differing campaign stances; instead, they are going to go with their guts by determining how much they are being heard and how forcefully their needs are being addressed. Consistent with voter decision-making habits, campaigns should emphasize most strongly about three top stands around which to center their campaigns. Secondly, the political context of 2026 among most Democrats is that they are primed for an aggressive clash against the MAGA dominated Republicans. President Trump has purposely been a disruptor and breaker of norms, many of which target numerous constituencies and traditions of good governance. This has Democrats fighting mad and they are ready to battle it out with Trump and his followers; even more than was the case during his first term as president.

One last point before I promote specific campaign issues. I would like to express what should be obvious to all Democrats at this time. Democrats need to regain their ability to communicate with voters by understanding them and accepting them for who they truly are and not by either mistakenly determining who they are think they are or wishing them to be different than who they are. Democrats have historically been good at engaging in economic populism and siding with the working class against corporate and wealthy elites. The party needs to refresh and regain that capacity, now more than ever. But they also need to better address the cultural and nationalist themes of populism often practiced by the right wing. How can that be done? Two things come to mind. One, as mentioned earlier, know the people who would be your constituents. Utterly understand and speak to the values, priorities, and lived experiences of your voters. Secondly, find common ground. There really is much more that unites us rather than divides us. Candidates should assertively find where these touch points are. Populism may have become a dirty word in recent years, but it need not be. Indeed, possessing a populist mindset and campaign style is critically important.

In keeping with the maxim that a campaign should be mostly focused on three issues and adhering to the notion that all midterm campaigns should be locally driven here is what I see as the top three issues for Democrats from my perspective as a center-left and lifelong Democrat from a northeast purple state (New Hampshire).

1. Delivery of services: Democrats need to strongly emphasize and convincingly persuade voters that they are fully committed to finding solutions to the concerns much of the public has. These include affordability and lowering of consumer prices, reliable and economical healthcare, an adequate supply of reasonably priced housing, strengthening democracy and rule of law, keeping crime low, building trust in essential government services, effective but humane immigration control, and more. Providing crucial services through assertive use of political and government power carried out of decisive, strong, and no-nonsense leaders dedicated primarily to the needs of the people; not to the rich, not to the corporations, not to the elite, not to the oligarchy, but to average everyday Americans can revive a belief in fair play and that good government can indeed provide for the communities.
2. Corruption and self-enrichment: Ideology can be argued about and debated as to which collection of ideas and values best address the needs of the people. However, when the needs of the people are placed below the personal desires of the leader, then a powerful campaign issue is born. Numerous examples, including cryptocurrency dealings, emoluments violations, and insider trading exist that show Trump has this attitude of self-entitlement, simply because he is the president. This is not surprising given Trump’s admiration of authoritarians. Corruption on the scale we are seeing that enhances the Trump family and those associates close to the president speak to his elitism better than any standard left/right characterization can. Even his working class supporters must be thinking, What?!! And if they are not thinking that, then a Democratic candidate has an opportunity to clearly point it out.
3. The cost of living: Inflation has been driving up the cost of living for more than four years now. The initial cause of supply and demand imbalances boosted by pandemic policy responses jumpstarted the worst inflation in forty years. Although the rate of inflation was gradually reduced beginning in mid-2022 President Biden, and by extension Kamal Harris, paid a heavy political price for inflation. In large part, the electoral response to inflation led to the election of Trump. What is now clear is that the current administration has only aggravated the problem. Consumer prices are higher now than they were when Biden left office with no end in sight of coming down. Between the tariff policy and the war in Iraq, neither of which had broad public support, Trump has lost his political capital on the economy. He foolishly handed the Democrats a potent campaign issue.

Democrats of course stand in support of a number of issues beyond the three I cite as priorities. These other positions represent a combination of long held preferences and more contemporary prerogatives. We can look at these issues as subsets of themes held dear by the liberal tradition, which is how I would like to present them.

How many of these topics candidates emphasize depend on the individual districts and states in contention. My following list is not necessarily rank ordered and the issues selected will be determined by their salience within each electoral region. That said, I see Democrats as endorsing these imperatives as planks to a progressively built platform.

Equality: Whereas the political right and left often emphasize the sacred right of freedom, one rarely hears the political right wing give similar weight to equality despite its prominence in the Declaration of Independence. It is traditional for Democrats to keep the flame of equality alive. Issues that fall within the equality rubric include support for universal education through a robust federal Department of Education and more recently for student assistance into, if not through, the college years; equal rights for both LGBTQ+ citizens and for women, as in equitable employment treatment and compensation; a progressive tax structure which promotes opportunity for all; and green climate and ecosystem sustainability policies to maintain planetary health for all.

Originalism: There is a bult in mechanism for amending the Constitution if the people deem that necessary. However, the Founders correctly understood that a power hungry executive branch could overly concentrate the ideological or personal interests of a president above the national interests. Between Trump’s chipping away of Constitutional norms such as threatening free and fair elections conducted at the state level and a Supreme Court, the majority of which subscribes to an all-powerful president via unitary executive theory, Democrats are justified in being the safeguards of Constitutional originalism.

Immigration: In a nation largely comprised of immigrants or the descendants of immigrants there needs to be an unabashed embrace of the value immigrants provide the nation both economically and culturally and to challenge the hate and racism driving much of the right’s fear of “others” on this issue. Democrats should advance comprehensive immigration reform that is fair, predictable, and compassionate.

Strength: Lethal force needs to be expressed in three ways; through strong and unprejudiced law enforcement that provides safety and security for all; a strong military grounded in international cooperation; and reasonable and common sense limits on guns for the public.

Choice: Denying a woman the right to choose what happens with her body and with her life is an affront to basic individual rights. Safe and legal abortion access should be restored nationwide.

The Democratic brand need not be tainted. There is much Democrats possess ideologically and practically that can make them worthy of leadership in these fraught and chaotic times. Republicans have shown how cultish support and adherence to an unqualified and incompetent showman with a personality disorder is dangerous to our great country. Let us right this ship before it lists even further.