Blue-collar Democrats are sounding the alarm about their party’s slipping appeal with working-class voters, and some lawmakers want to change how the party speaks to vast swaths of the country.
“The idea that Democrats lost working families to the billionaire Republicans is stunning. That’s the only word I can use to describe it,” Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) told us. “We have a long way to go to accept the fact there’s a problem here. I’m not sure the majority of our members are willing to accept that.”
A number of Hill Democrats argue the party must return to its focus on traditional issues such as unflinching support of unions. Despite Democrats historically being the political home of most of the nation’s leading labor unions, they’re losing steam with rank-and-file union members.
Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who often bucks his party, coined himself recently as a “Labor Democrat” when speaking to constituents in his pro-Trump district. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.), who co-chairs the Blue Dog Coalition with Golden, has called for her party to invite more people with working-class backgrounds to run for office.
Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Ore.), a third-generation union member who represents a largely rural district, said President-elect Donald Trump has been successful in tapping into the anger felt by Americans who feel left behind — even as Democratic lawmakers trumpet the country’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Hoyle argues Democrats have catered too much to college-educated voters over trade workers.
“I do see some of my colleagues talking down to people who go into the trades, acting as if we have a noble obligation to lift people up,” Hoyle said in an interview. “Really what people want is an opportunity to succeed and have a path to economic prosperity.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has pushed back on those blaming progressive policies for Democrats’ losses. But the New York Democrat said she was unsurprised by the concept of AOC-Trump voters in her district because of the way the party has failed to talk to working-class communities.
“I came here as a waitress and people treated me as unintelligent because of the way that I talked,” Ocasio-Cortez told us. “I spoke directly and frankly and I don’t have an Ivy League degree. The same things that were a detriment to me when I first got here were an asset when I’m back in my community.”
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), who represents a blue-collar district that includes Pittsburgh, said his party should listen to members on the ground about how to speak to voters regionally. He particularly touched on the need to talk about the country more positively.
“Democrats would be wise to look to candidates who did well and can speak to their region’s values,” Deluzio told us. “In almost every part of this country, patriotism is a very strong value and we should make sure we’re owning love of country and grounding it in our political values.”
