Trump Is Giving Democrats a Lot to Work With Ahead of the Midterms

After the big wins Democrats had last month in states like New York, Virginia, and New Jersey, the prevailing wisdom became that the Democratic message right now needs to be about affordability. That worked for them with everyone from Zohran Mamdani to Abigail Spanberger. However, there are a lot of other things Democrats could also be talking about, so they’ll need to decide what else might help them break through with voters.

Should they talk about the Nazi problem the Republicans apparently have? The Epstein files? Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s alleged war crimes? Trump’s corrupt crypto deals?

David Karpf, an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, says that Democrats need to talk about more than just affordability.

“I think they want to have clear messages about things like affordability, but they also need to be talking about the things that are happening in the news and in the country,” Karpf said. “Things are going terribly, and you’re the opposition party. Your job is to point to things and say this is going terribly.” 

Karpf said that voters don’t tend to be moved much by foreign policy issues, but Democrats should definitely be talking about alleged war crimes. He said they need to stop acting like the messaging that worked 10 or 20 years ago is going to work in this moment. 

“You should talk about the really bad thing, rather than diverting attention from the really bad thing,” Karpf said. “There will be plenty of time to also talk about affordability and how they have wrecked what was a strong economy.”

As for the Epstein files, that’s something that definitely seems to throw Trump off, and it makes Republicans who support him uncomfortable. Continuing to talk about things like that is probably a good idea. 

“I just think they should be focused on what’s actually happening, and they should also be focused on what are the things that cause your opponent to make mistakes,” Karpf said. 

Karpf said that Democrats also need to do a better job at utilizing the tools that many on the right have been proven successful recently. Figure out a better social media strategy, and figure out where people are actually getting their news. Appearing on cable news over and over probably won’t do the trick anymore. 

“It’s all algorithmic now,” Karpf said. “We do need to pay attention to what things people are engaging with.” 

In terms of social media, Mamdani showed that having a candidate who appeals to people and knows how to play the social media game can be very helpful. Part of what you need there is a candidate with charisma, which won’t always be easy to find, but Karpf said it should be the goal. He said Democrats can also try to develop more influencer-like figures within the party. 

“I think what they need to do is identify charismatic leaders like AOC and encourage them to develop their own audience,” Karpf said. “I think within the broader DNC or DCCC, if they can identify staffers who are talented, they should encourage those staffers to try to build their own audience, so that they’re sort of organically building their own actual influencers.”

One of the obstacles they face is the “right-wing media infrastructure,” Karpf said, and they need to work on building their own messaging infrastructure. Essentially, Karpf feels Democrats have been kind of stuck in the past, and it’s time to adapt to how things are changing when it comes to effective messaging. 

Effective messaging, as Zohran Mamdani also showed, can also involve a good sense of humor. Democrats can show they’re not uptight elites by having a little fun. That often works on social media. That can be simple, like calling Republicans “weird” as Tim Walz did in 2024. It can be amusing, well-produced social media videos, like we saw from Mamdani’s campaign. Everyone can find what works for them.