'Not normal': Top Senate Dem says activist trait 'has to go' to win midterms

One high-ranking senator wants his party's most dedicated activists to make fundamental changes to how they approach voters in the next election cycle.

In a wide-ranging interview with Politico columnist Jonathan Martin, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) lamented that Democrats don't just have a deficit in information "infrastructure," but that Democrats don't take advantage of their limited opportunities to use plain language that ordinary Americans can relate to. The Senate's chief deputy minority whip emphasized that this isn't just a problem among the progressive wing of the party, but among centrists as well. He opined that Vice President Kamala Harris frequently used language on the campaign stump that was more common in academia than among more typical voters.

"I think Kamala did a really good job on focusing on middle-class concerns. But I remember her saying, ‘I’m going to center the needs of the working class.’ And I thought to myself, I don’t know anyone in the world who says center," Schatz said. "I know people in politics who say center. I know people in academia. I know people in advocacy who say center. But centering the needs, or making space for, or all of that, is a clear indication that you are not normal."

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Schatz's concern follows the results of a Democratic polling firm that conducted focus group sessions with various blocs of voters who voted for Democrats in 2020 but chose either to vote for President-elect Donald Trump, a third-party candidate or not voting at all in 2024. Participants in those focus groups communicated that they felt alienated by Democrats who they felt were too "overly focused on diversity and elites."

"I think this question of language goes pretty deep," Schatz told Martin. "I remember saying I was for a cessation of hostilities in Israel and Palestine. And people said why don’t you say ceasefire? I’m thinking, that’s literally the same thing. I remember saying I was for a big, bold climate bill. And someone said why don’t you say Green New Deal?"

"And this idea that there are magic words that we must be forced to say defines progressivism and political courage by essentially saying whatever a bunch of activists want us to say, as opposed to doing the thing," he continued. "And I think that there are a bunch of people who see what we’re doing as performative, for that exact reason. But it’s also just alienating. This magic words thing has to go away."

Schatz noted that even though Democrats lost long-time incumbents in states like Montana and Ohio, it shouldn't mean that the party gives up on "while swaths of the country." He warned, however, that there is a "structural problem" of hyper-partisan media ecosystems that Democrats have to pierce in order to reach the voters they need in order to win back their majorities. He called on Democratic-aligned funders to provide the necessary resources for Democrats to create their own media ecosystems that can help drive their message to voters in future elections.

Click here to read Martin's full interview with Schatz.