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........

© The Hill