How Democrats got their groove back
By Michael Jones
The country witnessed “Hands Off!” protests across all 50 states, with demonstrators voicing opposition to President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies, as well as the influential role of Elon Musk within the government.
Like the 2017 Women’s March and other early Trump-era protests, the Hands Off! movement drew massive crowds nationwide and internationally. Protesters once again gathered at symbolic sites—state capitols, courthouses, and public squares—creating a visual display of nationwide dissent.
Behind the chants and placards was a deeper current: a Democratic Party that seemed to find its footing after months of disarray and despair. From hard-fought progress and even wins at the ballot box in April to strategic victories in Congress—and even a rare messaging win over Trump himself—Democrats seized the moment. Last week didn’t just look like resistance, based on multiple conversations with Hill Democrats. It looked like momentum.
But beneath that momentum was something else: vindication. For months, Democrats have warned that Trump’s return to power would bring chaos, economic instability, and unchecked executive action. With markets in free fall and investor confidence unraveling, those warnings are starting to look less like partisanship and more like prophecy. That sense of political validation is real—but so is the danger. Democrats know that even if the politics are beginning to shift, the damage they’ve long feared may already be taking hold.
“Republicans are on the run,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters last Thursday. “They’re on the run on the economy. They’re on the run legislatively. And they’re on the run politically, which is what Democrats have been saying since January. And now, apparently, other people are starting to catch up.”
The biggest jolt of energy came from the Senate floor, where Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) delivered a 25-hour speech condemning the Trump administration’s assault on federal agencies and democratic norms. In doing so, he surpassed Strom Thurmond’s notorious 1957 filibuster against civil rights legislation, flipping the symbolism of that record on its head. The speech galvanized Democrats nationwide and marked a turning point in how the party chooses to confront Trump-era extremism head-on.
“It was amongst Cory’s finest moments, and he’s had many throughout the years,” Jeffries added. “But it was incredible in that he was strong, he was substantive and he was soulful—all at the same time.”
That momentum carried into the ballot box. In Florida, Democrats overperformed in two special elections—signaling potential shifts in voter sentiment even in deep-red territories. And in Wisconsin, the party’s preferred candidate won a high-profile Supreme Court race, keeping control of the state’s highest court out of conservative hands and increasing the chances it will preserve access to abortion and fair legislative maps ahead of 2026.
In Florida’s 6th congressional district, Jeffries noted that Democratic nominee Josh Weil cut the margins from Trump’s win in 2024 from 30 points to 15.
“There are 60 House Republicans who hold districts right now that Donald Trump won by 15 points or less in November. Every single one of those Republicans should be concerned,” he said. “The American people have rejected their extreme brand and their do-nothing agenda, and they’re going to be held accountable next November.”
And then came a procedural defeat that Republicans didn’t see coming. Nine GOP members joined with Democrats to take down a rule that would’ve blocked Rep. Anna Paulina Luna’s effort to force a vote on allowing new parents to cast votes remotely. Speaker Mike Johnson had poured political capital into stopping the proposal and sent members home two days early. By week’s end, even Trump had reversed course and endorsed it—leaving House Republicans politically outmaneuvered on an issue with broad public appeal.
“They got out of town before sundown because they have no agenda to make life better for the American people,” Jeffries said.
But the fundamentals remain grim for Democrats. Republicans still control both chambers of Congress and the White House, and the Democrats’ favorability hit record lows in two national polls last month. Even the most unified Democratic opposition may not matter if Republicans can rally behind a single budget reconciliation bill to fast-track Trump’s tax, border, defense, and energy priorities. That would leave Democrats with little more than procedural tools and public messaging to resist the GOP agenda—the same devices they have now.
And yet, Democrats believe the politics are shifting in their favor. They plan to keep pressing their case on the economy, calling out what they describe as unchecked executive overreach and a Republican Congress unwilling to rein it in. As markets tumble and consumer confidence dips, even some Trump voters are beginning to question whether the president has already broken his promise to lower prices on day one. His seemingly haphazard trade policies—especially on tariffs—aren’t helping, that’s for sure. So, while the power dynamics in Washington haven’t changed, the political winds just might be starting to.
“The reason why the Republican Party and Donald Trump are cratering in terms of public sentiment is because they are failing to do the things that matter to the American people, like drive down the high cost of living,” Jeffries said. “Instead, they are tanking the economy and driving us toward a recession. That’s what the Trump tariffs are all about. So this effort to try to distract the American people is not working. It’s not going to work in Congress—and it’s certainly not working with respect to the American people.”
Michael Jones is an independent Capitol Hill correspondent and contributor for COURIER. He is the author of Once Upon a Hill, a newsletter about Congressional politics.
