cnn
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Donald Trump has not yet taken office, but some Democrats have begun to talk about one of the party’s most strategic and urgent issues: Is there room to work with the new administration?
It all depends on who asks.
In the days leading up to Trump’s second inauguration, some Democrats in Congress have shown openness toward some of the incoming president’s Cabinet picks. Governors of blue states, such as New Jersey and Maryland, have indicated that they will not prioritize resistance over advancing their states’ priorities. Some prominent members of the party, such as Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, have visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump.
The willingness to find common ground with the incoming president highlights a difficult reality for Democrats. After years warning that Trump represents an existential threat to democracy, they must now face the reality that he narrowly won the popular vote, eroded their coalition and has the backing of loyal Republican majorities in Congress.
However, while elected officials have signaled their receptiveness, those charged with helping Democrats win and select the party’s new leadership have not proactively sought common ground. Democratic Party insiders expressed skepticism that the incoming president’s agenda offers room for compromise.
“When I hear elected officials say they are willing to find a way to work with Trump, I think we have different tasks,” said Shasti Conrad, chairwoman of the Washington Democratic Party. “My job as the leader of this Democratic Party is to make sure more Democrats win, not to make it easier for Republicans to do what they need to do.”
For Democrats, trying to calibrate the right amount of resistance is not a new debate. After Trump’s election in 2016, dozens of House Democrats boycotted Trump’s inauguration, even as their congressional leaders argued that Democrats had a responsibility to find common ground with the incoming president. Eight years later, Trump takes office once again, with a Republican trifecta to push through several promises he made on the campaign, from mass immigrant deportations to reversing much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
In the final days of his presidential transition, 55% of Americans approved of how Trump handled the transition and 56% said they expect him to do a good job as president, according to a recent CNN poll.
Democrats are betting that voters will become disillusioned with the incoming president once he takes office and begins implementing his plans.
“He’s going to start doing all the things he did before, but now he feels even more emboldened to be able to do those things in the future,” said Bryan Kennedy, a member of the Democratic National Committee and mayor of Glendale, Wisconsin. “Democrats have to stand up to him.”
One area where there was common ground from the beginning was immigration. This month, 48 House Democrats voted with Republicans to advance the Laken Riley Act, which would require law enforcement to detain undocumented migrants accused of theft or trespassing. Two Democrats have also co-sponsored the bill in the Senate: Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Ruben Gallego of Arizona.
A handful of Democratic senators have also expressed openness to confirming Trump’s Cabinet picks or working with Republicans on key issues. Chief among them has been Fetterman, whom Trump called a “common sense person” after the Pennsylvania Democrat visited him at Mar-a-Lago this month.
However, that attitude has gone beyond the Capitol. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who once called himself the “Biden of Brooklyn” and is in charge of a blue city where Trump gained ground, also traveled to Florida to meet with the president-elect on Friday.
Across the country, governors have made clear that their priorities are their states, not fighting the incoming White House.
In New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy promised to “never back down” from partnering with the administration “where our priorities align” during his State of the State address earlier this month.
“But just as important, I will never back down from standing up for our New Jersey values, if and when they are tested,” he added.
In Michigan, one of seven battleground states that Trump won, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wouldn’t avoid fights with the administration, but she wouldn’t seek them either.
“I don’t want to pretend that we’re always going to agree, but I will always seek collaboration first,” Whitmer, a possible 2028 presidential candidate, said during a speech at the Detroit Auto Show.
And in Maryland, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who is also seen as a possible future presidential candidate, shared a similar sentiment.
“I’m not the leader of the resistance, I’m a governor of Maryland,” Moore told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Not all Democratic governors have avoided being part of the opposition. Some party leaders have taken on an adversarial role against the Trump White House.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called a special session of the state legislature in November “to safeguard California values and fundamental rights in the face of an incoming Trump administration.” This month, Democrats in the state agreed to spend $50 million to help fund legal efforts to sue the Trump administration and protect immigrants from deportation.
In Detroit, where the national party held its first official in-person forum for those seeking to lead the party during Trump’s second administration, leading candidates argued that Democrats need to pick their battles.
“It’s about picking the fights that show we’re on the side of the vast majority of people in this country who don’t live off massive wealth,” said Ben Wikler, candidate for Democratic National Committee chairman and head of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. . “I would love for Trump to somehow transform into a totally different person, but he has shown us exactly what he is about, so we have to be prepared.”
Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and another candidate for national party chair, said Democrats should consider Republican policies that would improve people’s lives “on a case-by-case basis” if serious proposals are on the table. .
“What I’m suggesting now is that there is nothing that the president-elect or his administration has said that gives me any reason to believe that they are serious about truly governing in the best interest of all Americans,” Martin said.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, also a presidential candidate, said it is “not the party’s job to cooperate” with the incoming president. Instead, the party must focus on rebuilding its brand.
“I think there’s been a lot of thinking about tactics and strategy in the party since the election, and we can’t afford to be constantly misled, off-message, away from our brand and our purpose as a party,” O’Malley said.
Jason Paul, a lawyer and political strategist who is also seeking the role of president, argued that the incoming president should be left alone.
“As an opposition party, we don’t owe you any votes,” Paul said. “It’s your job to fix the country.”
