Democrats need to stop overthinking it.
In 2024, Donald Trump made a simple promise: “Starting on Day One, we will end inflation and make America affordable again.” It didn’t matter that he was lying. It didn’t matter that he had no plan. What mattered is that voters believed he saw their pain and was going to do something—anything—about it.
That message was so effective that Trump made massive gains among working-class voters and even Latinos, despite his vilification of them.
Fast forward to 2025, and Democrats still seem afraid of that lesson.
But voters are telling us what works. Just look at Zohran Mamdani’s upset win in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. His message? Freeze rent, free buses, free child care, city-owned grocery stores, higher minimum wage—all cost-of-living issues. Voters didn’t just hear his policies—they felt them.
Ever the cynical realist, I doubt the effectiveness of much of that agenda and Mamdani’s ability to find the money to implement it. The grocery-store thing is particularly absurd; eliminating the sales tax on food would be easier and more effective. But who cares? Trump had zero plans beyond signaling that he cared about the voters’ top concern, and Mamdani hit the same message.
This isn’t complicated: Promise to make people’s lives materially better, and they will reward you.
And focus on immediate relief. Stop burying benefits in the complicated tax code. No one does their taxes and thinks, “Phew! I would’ve paid an extra $250 if Democrats had not passed that one tax credit!” No, we all hate to pay taxes, even those of us who value what those taxes buy.
And stop doing stupid shit like letting Trump send checks to people—with his name on them—but being too squeamish to do so when it’s our turn. If someone deserves cash, send them cash and proudly let them know who is responsible for that cash.
Heck, you know those signs that indicate publicly financed projects? They should all include the names of the politicians who voted for it. Republicans can’t be taking credit for projects they voted against.
Give people immediate relief, then show them—prominently—who delivered it.
Democrats can reclaim their mantle as the party of the working class. But it requires speaking in plain language, leading with benefits, and cutting the elite wonkery that leaves people feeling talked down to or simply confused.
There’s so much we could do! Higher Social Security benefits, Medicare for all, universal child care, universal school lunches, better food assistance, eliminating sales tax on food, limiting credit card interest rates, free community college, free public transit in metro areas, a ban on junk fees, and so on. These are all tied to cost-of-living issues that affect our daily lives, and we can deliver this help by paying for it with taxes on the rich—an approach that has broad bipartisan support.
The steep cost of living is the political battlefield. Trump’s trying to fight it with racist scapegoating, a bizarre focus on tariffs, and an aggressive effort to redefine reality. Democrats can offer voters a better future. And if they focus relentlessly on delivering immediate relief—no jargon, no gimmicks—they’ll win. Again and again.