By Gabriella Borter and Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic leaders are hoping U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and a winner of tough elections, will help rehabilitate their public image when she gives their rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night.
Democrats are betting the 48-year-old Slotkin, a swing state moderate with extensive national security experience, will send the message their party stands for working-class Americans and moderation over extremism.
She unseated a Republican to win election to the House of Representatives in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office and won election to the U.S. Senate in Michigan in November even as Trump carried the state.
Her rebuttal will offer Democrats a chance to lay out their opposition to Trump’s agenda, following his speech at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday (0200 GMT Wednesday) to a joint session of Congress.
Slotkin campaigned on a message of lowering costs for American families – a theme the Democratic Party establishment has since regretted more of its candidates did not embrace in 2024.
Going forward, Democrats are hoping to get back in voters’ graces by emphasizing kitchen table issues that resonate across the political aisle: the need to bring down food, housing and pharmaceutical prices, while also defending social safety net programs.
Democratic leaders accept the need for some streamlining of federal agencies and cost savings where needed. But they argue that should be accomplished in a more careful, studied approach than billionaire Elon Musk’s rushed firings on Trump’s behalf.
“Democrats cannot just speak to the choir. They have to speak to the congregation,” said Democratic strategist and former acting Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile. “She can speak to a congregation, whether you’re Republican, independent or Democratic, and I think that is the value of having her.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month found that Americans favored the Republican Party’s approach over the Democratic Party’s approach on several issues that played a key role in Trump’s November election victory.
On the economy, they preferred Republicans 39% to 27% over Democrats, on immigration favored Republicans 43% to 25% and on crime favored Republicans 38% to 23%.
Democrats held a 43% to 24% advantage on women’s rights and led 40% to 23% on the environment.
DEMOCRATIC MESSAGE TESTING
Since losing control of the White House and Senate in November, Democrats have scrambled to strike the right tone against Trump and Musk’s aggressive reshaping of the federal government.
The stakes of their message-testing are high, as they struggle to reconnect with working-class voters before midterm elections in November 2026 that will determine control of Congress, where Republicans hold a 218-215 House majority and a 53-47 edge in the Senate.
Control of the House will likely be determined in about three dozen swing districts scattered across the country, and Democrats will face a tough path in the Senate, as they try to defend seats in four competitive states, while Republicans have only two incumbents up in states seen as competitive.
Congressional Democrats have tried to coalesce around a message focused on Musk’s campaign of mass firings of government workers and budget cuts pending in Congress.
The Republican budget plans, which are not yet fully fleshed out, look poised to cut federal healthcare insurance for the poor and disabled to help pay for tax cuts that will benefit the wealthiest Americans. Democrats have seized on that to accuse Republicans of working for billionaires instead of everyday Americans.
“Republicans can’t explain away the fact that they’re targeting Medicaid in this budget resolution,” No. 3 House of Representatives Democrat Pete Aguilar of California told reporters. “Clearly, we’ve hit a nerve.”
Republicans call Musk’s cuts to the federal workforce a much-needed effort to reduce wasteful spending and argue that failing to renew Trump’s 2017 tax cuts would amount to a historic tax increase on Americans. They note that their budget plan does not specifically call for cuts to Medicaid, a government health insurance program for low-income Americans and people with disabilities.
VOTER FRUSTRATION
Republicans and Democrats alike have faced voter frustration over Trump administration actions through nonstop emails and calls to their congressional offices and strong constituent attendance at town hall meetings.
In Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan’s Madison, Wisconsin, district, constituents made a record 6,982 phone calls and sent 18,108 emails to Pocan’s office from February 1-25, according to his communications director Matt Handverger.
Topping constituents’ concerns, Handverger said, were opposition to Republican budget cuts and Musk taking control of federal agencies with his Department of Government Efficiency.
While House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York has taken a surgical approach to challenging Trump by picking his battles with the president, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut is pushing his fellow Democrats to be more aggressive.
“My belief is that they (Trump administration) flood the zone every day and we have to flood the zone,” he said in an interview, adding that Trump’s actions, including ignoring Congress’ will on spending appropriated funds, presents “a constitutional crisis.”
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter and Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
