As Democrats struggle to push back against a Trump tidal wave of government cuts and aggressive policy actions, a familiar, Brooklyn-accented voice is once again rising through the wilderness.
“This country faces enormous crises. And how we respond to these crises today, will impact not only our lives, but the lives of our kids, future generations, and in terms of climate change, the very well-being of the planet,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders tells more than 3,000 rallygoers at a park in Las Vegas Thursday. They yell their approval as he shouts “no” to a government run by billionaires and while calling for one that works for everyone.
The rumpled octogenarian and two-time presidential candidate has no plans to seek the Oval Office again. But at a time when much of the Democratic Party is stunned by the Trumpian onslaught, grasping for a strategy and a message, it’s telling that Senator Sanders, for now, is stepping into the void – and striking a chord.
Why We Wrote This
The curmudgeonly Vermont senator is bringing his populist message to swing districts in the heartland and West, drawing large crowds. This week he’s joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another pugilistic politician who could inherit the Sanders mantle.
In recent weeks, Mr. Sanders has been bringing his populist message to swing districts narrowly won by Republicans throughout the heartland and West. His Fighting Oligarchy tour is drawing surprisingly large crowds, in a year with no major elections on the horizon.
In Warren, Michigan, earlier this month, some 10,000 people turned out to hear Mr. Sanders rail against the Trump administration, which he says is leading the United States toward “authoritarianism” and “kleptocracy.” In Las Vegas on Thursday, organizers had to change venues at the last minute to accommodate all the attendees. In Tempe, Arizona, some 15,000 people showed up, according to organizers, who say 50,000 people have RSVP’d for the rallies in the West.
“Everybody’s looking for someone to get them out of this mess,” says Tad Devine, a Democratic consultant who was chief strategist for Mr. Sanders’ 2016 campaign. “He’s kind of a St. John the Baptist of this thing. He’s out there sort of calling, saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do something about this.’”
Like John the Baptist, Mr. Sanders seems to understand that his ultimate job may be to help pave the way for the party’s next savior. On his latest stretch of the tour, he brought along New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party’s other progressive stars, young enough to be his granddaughter. Only 29 years old when first elected to Congress in 2018, and like Mr. Sanders, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has described herself as “evolving.” Some suggest she may eventually end up in the Senate or seek the presidency.
“Assassin smart”
She had plenty of fans at the rally, who admire her for standing up for progressive values and not giving ground, even to other Democrats. “She’s assassin smart,” says Mike Dicosta, a retiree at the rally with his hiking friends. “She’s one of us,” says Angela Dorsey – that is, working-class.
Several rallygoers said they could see the young progressive taking on the mantle of Mr. Sanders. He’s got experience with national organizing that she could learn from, and she’s got an enviable command of social media. He had a strong following among Latinos, who affectionately called their political uncle “Tio Bernie.” She has a Puerto Rican background. Democrats are going to have to win back Hispanics they lost to Donald Trump in 2024.
Most important, both she and Mr. Sanders bring the kind of fighting posture many Democratic voters seem particularly hungry for right now.
“We’re going to take our country back!” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez promised an eager crowd, marveling at an audience bigger than she had anticipated. When she asked how many people were first-time rallygoers, a sea of hands went up.
Other Democratic officials are trying out different kinds of appeals. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another politician with an eye on 2028, has drawn attention and controversy by having prominent MAGA figures on his new podcast in recent weeks. Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, in her response to the president’s joint address to Congress, put forward a pragmatic kind of politics, focusing on kitchen table issues.
“There’s clearly a bunch of different approaches going on,” says Democratic strategist Joe Trippi. Mr. Sanders is one of a medley of effective Democratic voices out there, he argues, and it’s a mistake to think only a Democratic populist can stop “the populist Trump.” “It’s going to take everything, and it won’t be one wing, or one flavor, or one person.”
Still, he adds, Mr. Sanders clearly recognizes the high stakes – and is speaking with a particular urgency.
Organizers describe the Fighting Oligarchy tour as a pressure campaign to force vulnerable members of Congress to vote against any potential cuts to Medicaid, housing, nutrition, education, and other “basic needs” in order to pay for Republican tax breaks for rich people.
“What we are trying to do is, in one way or another, maybe create a party within the party, of bringing millions of young people, working-class people, people of color, to demand that the Democratic Party start standing with the working class of this country and take on the very powerful corporate interests that have never had it so good,” Mr. Sanders said in a March 18 interview with CNN.
Francine Kiefer/The Christian Science Monitor
Divided Democrats
The tour comes at a time of particular division and anxiety among Democrats following their November loss of the White House and Senate. A recent CNN poll shows a record low approval rating for the Democratic Party – only 29%, the lowest since the network started polling in 1992.
Infighting boiled over after Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer voted for a Republican spending bill last week to avert a government shutdown. It passed but exposed a sharp disagreement among Democrats in Congress. Both Mr. Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez opposed the bill and wanted to use the threat of a shutdown as leverage against President Trump and congressional Republicans.
Senator Schumer, facing calls to step aside from leadership, argues that a government shutdown would have been far worse for average Americans. But Democrats aren’t in the mood for cooperation with Republicans.
“I’m very, very, very, very disappointed in Democrats,” says Antonio Salas Jr. at the Las Vegas rally, wearing a “Deport Elon” button. A two-time Sanders voter, he says, “It’s time to step up and not be nice anymore. I’m a firm believer now that we need to go lower, period, to defend our freedoms, our Constitution.”
Francine Kiefer/The Christian Science Monitor
That’s borne out in the new CNN poll, which finds that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would rather the party stop the GOP agenda than work with Republicans to try to get some Democratic ideas passed – 57% to 42%. It’s a stark reversal from President Trump’s first term, when 74% of Democrats and independents aligned with them wanted the party to work with Republicans to further Democratic priorities.
When the poll asked them to name the leader they feel best reflects “the core values” of the Democratic Party, the top performer was the former bartender from the Bronx, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, at 10%. The next two were former Vice President and presidential nominee Kamala Harris at 9% and Senator Sanders at 8%.
“He sees a moment, and he’s probably right – there is an opportunity here,” says Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California. She sees Mr. Sanders trying to use this moment “to undermine Trump – but also to build on the movement that he has cared about” for decades, pushing for free child care and public college, as well as a national health insurance program, Medicare for All.
A core argument about economic anxiety
The Vermont senator’s message may not resonate with everyone. Senator Sanders’ version of left-wing populism aspires to even bigger government, at a time when there is very little trust in institutions. And while Elon Musk may be giving billionaires a bad name among some voters, many still view achieving wealth as part of the American dream.
“Bernie Sanders, and his soak-the-rich message, especially, is not going to work, because even Americans that are not wealthy aspire to be,” says Brian Seitchik, a Republican consultant in Arizona who was Mr. Trump’s state director in 2016 and regional political director in 2020.
The senator’s core argument – which hasn’t really changed over the years – failed twice at the presidential level, Mr. Seitchik points out. “If he’s going to be the face of the Democratic Party for the next two years, I say, ‘Fantastic!’”
Yet Mr. Sanders has also been speaking directly to economic issues for over a decade, addressing cost-of-living problems, like housing and health care, that have only gotten worse. Some say the party should have been echoing him more closely all along.
“I think that’s really why people listened to him, because he was talking about issues that were the source of their economic anxiety,” says Mr. Devine, the Democratic consultant. “And that economic anxiety has not gotten better between 2016 and today.”
If Mr. Trump has an Achilles’ heel, it may be the economy. The president has lately conceded that a recession may be necessary to achieve the economic change he’s looking for. And his tariffs have not been popular. Recent polls have shown a majority of Americans now disapprove of Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy.
If that view persists, the president could face a backlash in the midterm elections – regardless of whether Democrats have unified message or a messenger by then, says David Byler, chief of research at the polling firm Noble Predictive Insights in Phoenix. In 2018, “It wasn’t clear who the Democrats were; it wasn’t clear who their leader was,” yet they still won control of the House, says Mr. Byler.
“People forget, or aren’t aware, of what it’s like when you have a wave election in this country,” says Mr. Devine. “If the Trump policies have the kind of impact which I think they’re going to have, which are disastrous – I think a lot of people are gonna be ready to give the Democrats a chance.”
“And when that happens, then new Democratic leaders will emerge.”
