In the last few days, Democrats were gifted two moments that crystallized massive vulnerabilities for the GOP. Their response showed they still don’t know how to use them to their advantage.
First, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa dismissed concerns from her constituents at a town hall that proposed Medicaid cuts could cause people to lose eligibility and even die. “Well, we are all going to die,” she said blithely.
Then, video emerged of Department of Homeland Security police handcuffing one of Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler’s aides in his Manhattan office, which is in the same building as an immigration courthouse.
These are the kinds of moments that break through, spilling over from the Beltway to the barbershop.
Both moments shorthanded a broader concern: Ernst’s blunt words revealed the indifference of congressional Republicans to the suffering their spending cuts will cause, while the handcuffing was an inadvertent metaphor for the Trump administration’s manhandling of the Constitution.
These are the kinds of moments that break through, spilling over from the Beltway to the barbershop, the normally nonpolitical spaces where elections are won or lost.
But when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., addressed how the party will hold the Trump administration accountable for the needless intrusion of law enforcement into a congressional office, he said on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “We will make that decision in a time, place and manner of our choosing.”
With remarks like that, he might as well send a Hallmark card asking President Donald Trump politely to stop.
Comments like this are partly to blame for why many feel elected Democrats in Washington don’t have their finger on the pulse of their constituents. And if folks don’t feel it, they don’t believe it.
What we need instead is a sustained campaign-like drumbeat from the opposition. Not once a month. Not after a crisis has passed. Daily.
For the record, Jeffries later pivoted from his lukewarm nonresponse about Nadler to telling NBC News on Tuesday: “We are in a ‘more is more’ environment. These aren’t ordinary times, and they require an extraordinary response. House Democrats are rising to the occasion to meet the moment.”
Democrats in Washington, please take note: “More is more” is a key philosophy of the party’s statewide and local efforts, and it has been working.
While some in Washington are stuck in what I can only describe as a never-ending paper statement loop, the real leadership in the Democratic Party is happening elsewhere.
While some in Washington are stuck in what I can only describe as a never-ending paper statement loop, the real leadership in the Democratic Party is happening elsewhere — in statehouses, community halls and movement spaces across this country. And it’s long past time we give credit where it’s due.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the national group focused on electing Democrats to state legislatures, just launched an initiative called State of Play. Through this series, it’s giving the mic to local leaders — state senators, delegates and representatives — to talk about how the chaos in D.C. is landing in their communities.
Some of these folks are in the minority in red states, but they’re still pushing, still fighting. This is what showing up looks like.
Let’s also remember: We aren’t coming off a losing cycle in states throughout the country.
Vice President Kamala Harris didn’t win Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada or Arizona, but Democratic Senate candidates in each of those battlegrounds emerged victorious. They notched major wins in legislatures.
More recently, Keishan Scott has defeated his Republican rival in a landslide win for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives — it was a massive overperformance. Democrat John Ewing won the Omaha, Nebraska, mayoral race against three-term Republican incumbent Jean Stothert. In April, Susan Crawford won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, allowing liberals to maintain their narrow majority on the battleground state’s highest court — and defying Elon Musk after he spent millions of dollars to oppose her.
These victories weren’t a fluke — they were earned through organizing, persistence and community trust.
And the organizing continues. The State of the People power tour — backed by grassroots activists and community organizers who have consistently been in the trenches — is making its way across the country from Jackson, Mississippi, to Los Angeles. They’re not waiting for the next election. They’re doing the work.
Similarly, the Rev. William Barber II stood outside the Capitol on Monday, calling out the cruelty of the Republican budget and fighting for the poor and the working-class. But not one elected Democrat came outside to stand beside him.
That moment mattered. Because as one of my mentors reminded me this week: “You can’t just be ready to meet the moment — you have to want the moment.” Too many Democrats, especially in Washington, seem to be waiting to be called off the bench.
But this isn’t a scrimmage. You either show up — visibly, consistently — or you forfeit the game.
For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders-Townsend, watch “The Weeknight” every Monday-Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC.
