Democrats return to Trump’s Washington after getting an earful of ‘do something’ at home

The Democrats of Congress returned to Washington earlier this week, fresh out of a long summer recess where they heard a dominant message from voters of the town hall and other events: do something.

Now, Democratic legislators – in the minority in the Senate and in the House as well as the White House – are faced with the limited number of things they can Do everything by trying to appease members of the desperate party to see an action.

The Democrats of the States of the Battlefield and Districts declared to NBC News towards the end of the recreation of the Congress that the voters urged them several times throughout the month to continue to resist Trump and his allies of the Congress Gop. But they recognized that there is not much to do to fight against the agenda without being able to congress, rather focusing on how they can enhance the profile of certain problems and also organize before the mid-term elections.

“I think that the widespread mood we hear at the moment is: continue to fight. And it is true not only for the Democrats – and I heard many democrats, certainly – but also many independent voters to whom we have spoken,” said the representative Dave Min, D -Calif., Who won his district of Orange county by less than 3 points in percentage in 2024.

Democratic members of the California Congress, Nevada, Oregon and Indiana told NBC News that some of the questions that most concerned their voters on recess were the impact of prices on the increase in the cost of living, the rise in medical costs and access to health care.

“What I have heard in the whole state – I don’t care about where you live – they want lower costs. They want to keep our community safe and healthy. They want good paying jobs. They want to develop and increase jobs and be able to develop the economy. Cortez Masto was re -elected in 2022 by less than 1 percentage point. In 2024, Trump won his state.

The “universal” question that representative Janelle Bynum, D-ear, heard of her constituency, which, according to her, is divided uniformly between Democrats, Republicans and Independents, is health care.

“What it looks like is the viability of rural hospitals, the availability of medical suppliers and the cost,” bynum told NBC News. The first mandate member won her headquarters less than 3 percentage points in 2024.

Limited power

All NBC News legislators have known that the difficult position they have faced since the start of the year.

“Well, they want a fighter, but they want someone who will do something,” said representative Dina Titus, D-NEV., Told NBC News. “So I say,” Yeah, I do everything I can. ” We make a friendship memories, we make gatherings, we introduce legislation, we make discharge petitions, but we do not have the figures. »»

Bynum underlined the dozens of town hall which house democrats and the Senate organized across the country during their recess as a means for members of its party to continue to fight and to present themselves for their voters.

A way of doing something “varies the way we present ourselves,” said Bynum, adding that since the start of her mandate, she has organized town hall in person and television rooms.

“It is difficult to see, unless the room is excited. It can sometimes make people feel alone and that they are worried otherwise many people arise,” she noted. “But here is the thing, on my last [tele-]City Hall, we had 16,000 people at stake. … And therefore, to tell people: “Hey, you are not the only one. It is how many people also presented themselves with this concern, “it was also effective.”

Bynum has added that one of his best messages for voters appearing at his events is that the figures count.

“Mathematics are important,” she said. “I cannot set up roadblocks, except by the courts and except by public opinion, unless we have the figures. And therefore the mid-term are essential to put slowers on the manner of Trump.”

Representative Frank Mrvan, D-Ind., Said that when he was addressed to voters at home, he also highlights the power that Democrats could win if they gain mid-term.

“By creating a system of checks and sales, you will be able to negotiate all the fronts with the administration,” said Mr.. He won his seat in 2024 over 8 points. During the same elections, the president of the time, Kamala Harris, won the district of less than 1 percentage point. It is also a potential target for the redistribution of mid-decennia led by the Republicans before the middle.

Titus noted that the participation rate in town halls across the country is an encouraging sign for the mid-term elections next year.

“We have obtained a very good participation rate,” she said. “People are interested in what’s going on. And one thing that I noticed is that the participation rate is so high and the energy level is so great that you generally do not find before an electoral year, but people have not disconnected from the last elections, and therefore we must simply maintain this energy. “

A prescription for 2026

Although the Democrats are considering next year in the hope of resuming Congress, and with this, the tools to limit part of the agenda of Trump, they are faced with winds, including weak notes. A certain number of surveys, including a survey of NBC news earlier this year, found the weakest positive note for the Democratic Party in 35 years.

Cortez Masto, who won a competition race twice in the Senate in a battlefield state, rejected the idea that the Democrats are not the best placed to win gains in the House and the Senate next year.

“I am really frustrated by the national tone here, that these are democratic intestine struggles,” she said. “These are not a question of democratic intestine struggles. They are all of us as a lovers, where we are at the moment, and how we retaliate against an administration that wants to be a dictator.”

Cortez Masto underlined the need for Democrats to work in traditional and republican battle areas, which she works with almost a dozen other Democratic senators to do via her PAC of Modsquad, who has already approved Democratic candidates in the Senate in New Hampshire and North Carolina. His advice to the colleagues Democrats of States and Districts of the Battlefield include a concentration on the questions that voters have raised as the most important for them in the town halls in August.

“This is a good sense, a drop in prices. How do we make life easier with less stress? How do we show that we focus on the families of workers, and not on the billionaires and large companies that obtain all permanent tax reductions and move wealth to them,” said the senator of Nevada. “There is an opportunity for us to go out. We have to talk to everyone. There is enough room in the Democratic Party for all of us, and our goal should be together on these common sense issues. ”

Mrvan, who faces another difficult fight of re -election next year, plans to focus on taking the arrangement of how the Trump’s pricing agenda affects them.

“What we must be able to do as a member of the Congress who is a democrat, is to be able to speak absolutely about how … The indiscrimination prices and the tariff wars do not benefit the consumer or our economy,” said Mr.

The Titus of Nevada advised its democratic colleagues in the Swing District and the Swing State to ignore the national dynamics beyond their races.

“I think they have to remember that all politics is local, and that everyone does not watch MSNBC. So, instead of trying to go on television over there, you have to try to go on television in your district. And the way you do this is to talk about something that happens in the district,” said Titus. “You know, you can have all these national battles, and everyone and his brother present themselves to the presidency, but the way of winning your district is to focus on what is happening in your district.”