DENVER — After strong gains in last week’s midterm elections, Democrats face a choice about how to use their momentum: investigate President Donald Trump and his administration, or seek areas where they can work with him to deliver tangible results.
Democrats quickly warned Trump and Republicans to “lawyer up.” In the days that followed, they began discussing probes into immigration enforcement, Trump’s business interests and the Justice Department. But at a conference in Denver, newly elected Democrats and party strategists argued that cooperation should also be part of the plan.
The party’s emerging leaders say voters want progress on everyday concerns, not just another round of partisan conflict.
The “What’s Next” gathering, hosted by Majority Democrats, brought together party leaders, strategists and newer figures to consider the party’s direction after the midterms. Organizers described it as an independent discussion of what Democrats should do next.
Iowa Gov.-elect Rob Sand cautioned Democrats against making investigations and impeachment efforts the centerpiece of their new influence, especially when some of the issues have already been widely reported.
Asked what he hoped Democrats would avoid once they take office, Sand said he did not want them “throwing bombs” at Republicans. Public servants, he argued, should focus on making people’s lives better.
“There are people who are really struggling right now, whose lives have been ruined by high gas prices, by all kinds of policy choices, and they need results,” Sand said. “They need public servants who are actually trying to serve the public.”
Sand questioned whether revisiting matters already covered in the media was the best use of lawmakers’ time, rather than pursuing work that could help ordinary people. Asked whether that meant working with the Trump administration, he said it did.
“He’s there, he was put there two years ago. He’s gonna be there another two years,” Sand said. “You don’t get to pick and choose who you work with. The people do.”
Sen.-elect James Talarico, a Democrat from Texas, said Democrats should pursue what they can accomplish now while continuing to advocate for longer-term changes.
“Some of these reforms may not pass until 2029, but the American people cannot wait two years for change,” Talarico said. “We must work with President Trump.”
He said Democrats should try to make Trump’s final two years in office “the most productive of any presidency in American history.” Talarico, the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a statewide election in Texas, also warned his party not to get “bogged down in the same petty fights.”
“The American people are demanding change, and in this election, they chose our party to deliver it,” he said.
Democratic strategist Lis Smith offered a note of caution, describing the election as “largely a referendum on Donald Trump and less a validation of Democrats and their policies.”
Smith, a senior adviser to Majority Democrats, said the party still has to earn voters’ trust. She urged Democrats to focus on the cost of living and corruption, rather than treating their wins as approval for policies they did not campaign on. In her view, voters turned out to rebuke Trump and his policies, not necessarily because Democrats had delivered a winning message.
“We should not read into these election results as a mandate for far left policies advocated only by a handful of candidates,” Smith said.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published this month found that nearly three-quarters of Americans want Democratic leaders in Congress to make a serious effort to work with the president.
