The campaign’s launch marks one of the first outside efforts to push back on Trump’s agenda in his second term, as Democrats look to regain ground with voters on economic issues — a major weakness for the party last year. Democrats plan to blast Trump over his effort to extend his own 2017 cuts, which they argue will hand “out trillions in tax giveaways to billionaires and big corporations,” a memo about the group reads, while ignoring his promises to lower costs on everyday expenses.
But it’s not clear when Republicans, who have argued that allowing the cuts to lapse would hurt the economy, will take up the debate. There’s still plenty of wrangling on Capitol Hill over how to push through their priorities of tax cut extensions, immigration and slashing spending — a sprawling list of priorities that will be difficult to push through with their razor-thin majority in the House.
Democrats, for their part, are still searching for a way to reach voters on the economy. Throughout the 2024 election, more voters trusted Trump on the economy than Kamala Harris, according to public polling. Trump improved his standing with nearly every demographic group last November, when a majority of voters said the economy remained their top issue. Reaching voters on economic issues is becoming an existential challenge for the party.
A coalition of elected officials, labor unions and Democratic groups signed on to the Democrats’ messaging effort, including former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), former Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
“For me, politics has never been about left or right, it’s about whose side you’re on. That’s what this fight will come down to,” Brown said in a statement. “Are you fighting for the people who make this country work, or more handouts for the wealthy and the largest corporations? We must make that contrast clear.”
Michael Linden, a Biden administration alum and a senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will serve as its director.
