Cory Booker signals a new way Democrats can campaign in Trump era

Democrats have for years defined themselves as the opposition to President Trump, taking a pugnacious approach to his administration and policies. 

But now some in the party are trying to recalibrate that strategy.

Rather than making anti-Trump rhetoric the defining aspect of their campaigns, they are leaning toward a message that emphasizes solutions to the country’s problems.  

The shift reflects a broader readjustment inside the party, with some Democrats prioritizing economic messaging and voter persuasion over confrontation with Republicans — even as many still see direct opposition to Trump as essential. 

Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), a former and prospective Democratic candidate for president, is at the forefront of the emerging approach.

“Hope feels scarce. What we are against preoccupies our attention, while the deeper question of what we are for is left unanswered,” Booker writes in his new book “Stand,” which came out last week. 

“So I can hear someone objecting: Dear God, Booker, our country is in crisis and you want to talk about … virtue?” 

“Yes,” Booker continues. “Virtue is not a luxury or an end in itself. Virtue — the disciplined practice of our highest ideals — is the strategy through which we as a nation survive and prevail. It is how we fight. It is how we win. It is how we heal.” 

Booker is not alone in embracing this approach. 

In the Democratic primary for a Texas Senate seat earlier this year, James Talarico ran on a values-driven, economically populist message aimed not just at Democrats but also luring voters outside his party’s base. 

In his race against Democrat Jasmine Crockett, Talarico largely avoided direct attacks on Trump, instead focusing on unity and coalition-building, and appealed to moderates and even soft Republicans. 

Crockett, on the other hand, took a more combative approach — one that echoed how many Democrats feel about the Trump administration. 

Other Democrats including California Gov. Gavin Newsom have also shown a willingness to fight Trump, taking a page from the president’s own playbook. 

In recent months, Newsom has been blunt in his approach, trolling the president in speeches, on social media and in interviews. Newsom’s polling has surged, leading some to view him as the Democratic front-runner for the 2028 presidential race. 

Other would-be candidates have also taken aim recently at Trump and his administration, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. And Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has specifically gone after Vice President Vance — who is likely to be the Republican nominee in 2028 — in recent weeks. 

“The data shows that Democrats want a fighter,” Democratic strategist Anthony Coley said. “They want someone to stand for what they believe in but also fight against what’s not right.” 

The 2028 race, Coley emphasized, “is not going to be won on policy solutions and proposals.”

“It’s going to be won by someone who is authentic, someone who can fight and stand up for the values they believe in,” he added. 

Democratic strategist Eddie Vale doubled-down on that sentiment, particularly at a moment when gas has averaged $4 a gallon across the country and food prices are increasing. 

“People want a fighter,” Vale said. “And not just because of what Trump is doing but because they can’t afford rent, gas, or food and they feel like they’re getting screwed over and can’t get ahead and need someone who is going to fight for families.” 

At the same time, a Manhattan institute poll released in March showed that 63 percent of those surveyed said future presidential candidates should prioritize effective governing over “fighting Donald Trump and Republicans.”

And Booker has been underscoring the point as he promotes his book, which has been seen as somewhat of a trial run for a presidential bid. 

“I think we are in a real crisis right now, and it’s not Donald Trump,” Booker told MS NOW’s Ali Vitali at a book event last week. “Many of the frustrations and fears and worries that I’ve experienced talking to Americans over the last decade predated him. He’s almost an accelerant, but not the source of a lot of the fuel of people’s concerns.” 

It is a much different tone than the one Booker took exactly a year ago when he set a record for delivering the longest individual floor speech in Senate history. The speech, which lasted 25 hours, took aim at the Trump administration’s second term policies.

In the record-breaking speech, he warned about immigration enforcement and due process concerns, as well as pressure on media and democratic institutions. And he returned time and again to issues involving Social Security, Medicaid and education, saying the systems were under threat. 

But during his book event last week, Booker sought to lay out a different vision. 

“Doubling down on darkness, or divisiveness or demeaning, degrading all of the things we’ve seen exhibited from the White House, that is not how we win,” he said. 

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