What If the Democratic Party Is Primed for a Revival?

Look around: They have lots of young, charismatic candidates ready to move up.

Texas state Rep. James Talarico

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First, the bad news: Sooner or later, Texas Democrats are almost certainly going to lose their battle to prevent the Republican-dominated legislature from redrawing congressional district lines to give the GOP five more seats, for a 30-8 advantage. They have fled the state to deny the Republicans a quorum, but they can’t stay away forever, and Governor Greg Abbott, as cynical and ruthless a partisan as the Lone Star State has ever produced, will probably keep calling special sessions until he delivers what President Trump has demanded.

But if you’ve been following this story, you’ve probably noticed state representative James Talarico, who has become the de facto spokesperson for the Democratic caucus, currently exiled to Illinois. He’s an example of something that ought to give Democrats some hope for the future. Here’s a good description of what he’s been up to, from Friday’s Politico Playbook:

Since arriving in Illinois, Talarico has done at least 48 interviews with media outlets — including cable news, national broadcast networks and popular podcasts, according to a person familiar with Talarico’s comings and goings.

It’s important to understand why. “The attention economy is defining everything about our politics right now, for good and for ill,” Talarico told Playbook last night at 11:53 p.m. Eastern, his final interview on a day that began with a bomb threat.

When we caught up with Talarico, he had, in his words, “just put together an explainer video that I just posted an hour ago on Tiktok and Instagram, where basically, there's no thrills to it. I’m just looking into the camera and trying my best from my old middle school teacher days of just like, ‘Let me break this down. Like, what is redistricting?’”

Talarico has done the nightly news broadcasts for NBC, CBS and PBS NewsHour, hits on NewsNation and CNN and MSNBC and “The Bulwark” and “Pod Save America” — not to mention tons of interviews with local TV affiliates.

I interviewed Talarico two years ago for an article I wrote on attempts by the Republican legislature to turn every public school in Texas into a Christian bible academy. As a devout Christian currently pursuing a divinity degree, Talarico was in a unique position to stand up for the separation of church and state, which he did with what we might call a quiet passion. At the time, I thought, “This kid’s going places.” And now he is, as the most visible Democrat in this controversy. He even went on Joe Rogan.

Talarico is considering running for Senate in 2026. That race is a complicated one: Incumbent John Cornyn would be a lock for re-election, but he’s being challenged from the right by Attorney General Ken Paxton, one of the most flamboyantly corrupt politicians in all the land, such a degenerate that he once went through a metal detector at a courthouse, spotted a $1,000 pen someone had left in the key tray, and went “Yoink!” and stole it.

Remarkably, Paxton has avoided going to prison for his manifold alleged crimes. But should he win the primary, as polls show he probably will, Democrats will have a much better shot at snagging that seat. The only currently announced candidate is Colin Allred, a former House member who ran unsuccessfully against Ted Cruz in 2024. Allred seems like a perfectly nice guy, but as a campaigner he’s not all that dynamic; when you watch his campaign videos or see him give an interview, your likely reaction is, “He’s…fine, I guess.” As Beto O’Rourke recently told the Texas Monthly, “I don’t think it’s any secret that Colin is probably not off to the strongest start.”

Maybe Talarico will run for Senate and maybe he won’t (he did tell Rogan that his aspiration, once he gets ordained, is to become a full-time pastor). But here’s the point: He’s a 36-year-old, smart, interesting Democrat who comes across as extremely earnest without being wimpy about it, and who’s also good on TikTok.

And he’s not alone! Look around the country and you can find a bunch of young Democrats who feel comfortable on social media and understand the key fact about the politics of the moment, which is that whether your positions on issues are more moderate or more progressive, what matters is that people see that you’re willing to fight with energy and commitment. Zohran Mamdani is the most visible example, but there are other charismatic young Democrats out there too, like Mallory McMorrow, who is in a tough three-way primary for the Senate seat in Michigan.

Not every young, talented candidate is going to succeed, because a lot depends on timing and luck. For instance, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the most talented politicians in the party, but her defeat of Joe Crowley in the 2018 primary was made possible by a number of key circumstances: Crowley had stopped paying attention to his constituents; the district’s demographics had changed significantly in the two decades Crowley was in office, becoming more diverse; and 2018 was a year in which Democratic primary voters were mobilized and eager for change. Had AOC run two years before, she probably would have lost.

It’s always darkest before the dawn

For some time now, Democrats have been complaining that their party is run by a bunch of elderly legislators who are not only incapable of interacting with voters using contemporary means, but who are trapped by their accommodationist instincts and by their very presence communicate that the Democratic Party is sclerotic and ineffectual. That may have something to do with why the party is incredibly unpopular even as we live through the dumpster fire of this presidency.

Allow me to offer another way to look at this. Everything in the above paragraph is true. But it might be better to see this as a period of transition, with a brighter day for Democrats coming into focus. Yes, they’re in poor shape now, but they have good reasons to be optimistic.

Recent polling has shown the Democratic Party absolutely in the toilet, with approval ratings barely topping 30%. You may have seen those polls. But the driver of that poor standing is that Democratic voters themselves are unhappy with their party.

Take, for instance, the most recent Economist/YouGov poll. Overall, the Democratic Party gets a favorable rating of 33%, with just 9% of respondents saying they’re “very favorable” toward it. Only 5% of Republicans are favorable toward Democrats, as you’d expect. Only 11% of Independents are favorable, but Independents are only slightly more approving of the Republican Party (16%). What’s holding Democratic approval down is that only 72% of Democrats feel favorable toward their own party, and only 22% are very favorable.

But that’s not a bad thing! You know what that dissatisfaction does? It encourages young, entrepreneurial candidates to get involved and wage primary campaigns against geriatric incumbents who should have left office years ago, which in turn drives enthusiasm and involvement on the part of voters who are looking for a change. There are few stronger motivations in politics than the feeling of “This sucks, couldn’t we have something better?” There are Democrats out there offering it, and if they can overcome the timid establishment (again, see Mamdani in New York), the whole face of the party could change. Just in time for the midterms, and the start of the next presidential campaign.