Friends,
Forget tonight’s State of the Union. You know exactly what Trump is going to say. The far more interesting question is what Democrats and progressives will say in coming weeks and months. What’s the Democratic midterm message?
Every seat in Congress is up for election. Democrats need a net gain of only three seats to win control of the House. Although they enjoy a strong tailwind from Trump’s high disapproval ratings — just 32 percent of Americans now say Trump has had the right priorities, while 68 percent say he hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems — Democrats are facing an unusually large number of Republicans barricaded inside ruby-red House districts.
In the Senate, Democrats need to flip four seats to win a majority. Although independent voters have drifted toward the Democrats this year — Trump’s approval rating among independents has dropped 15 points year over year to 26 percent, the lowest it’s been in either of his terms — most of the 2026 Senate contests are in states that Trump easily won in 2024.
So how can Democrats and independent progressives pull this off and take back control of Congress?
I’ve been in contact with several advisers to Democratic candidates and have asked them what they’re advising their candidates about messaging. Their major responses are below.
Please choose the one you believe will be most convincing to voters in the midterms.
This post has been syndicated from Robert Reich, where it was published under this address.