Coons warns Democrats against basking in 2025 electoral successes
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) urged the Democratic Party not to become complacent after their successes in the 2025 off-year elections. In an essay published in *Democracy*, Coons emphasized the need for a clearer, more affirmative vision to secure victories in the larger 2026 and 2028 elections. Reflecting on his own journey from a Republican upbringing to embracing Democratic values centered on justice, he criticized the party’s recent drift away from intellectual openness and its adoption of divisive messages and policies, which have alienated working-class voters and contributed to the rise of Donald Trump.
Coons called for Democrats to return to foundational values like justice-one that is broader than purity tests and cancel culture-and to focus on listening to voters rather than dictating beliefs. He warned that voters distrust Congress and perceive Democrats as corrupt, even more so than republicans, despite high-profile scandals involving Republicans. His message aligns with other Democratic senators who have expressed concerns about the party’s direction.
Despite these challenges, some Democrats remain optimistic, citing strong state legislative performances in 2025 as a potential foundation for gains in 2026. Coons’ essay serves as both a warning and a call to action for Democrats to rebuild trust, broaden their coalition, and refocus on policies that improve people’s lives.
Coons warns Democrats against basking in 2025 electoral successes and proposes ‘more affirmative vision’ for future gains
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) outlined a path forward for the Democratic Party on Monday, warning his colleagues not to gloss over the profound matters plaguing the Left despite the victories it saw this year.
“Democrats did very well in the off-year 2025 elections, but success in larger elections in 2026 and especially 2028 will require a more affirmative vision,” Coons wrote in an essay published in Democracy, making him the latest Democrat to issue a strategy for how to rebound from sweeping losses in the 2024 elections.
“If we want to win again, we need to offer voters a concise, accessible framework that rests on the ideas that drew me and so many others to the party in the first place,” he continued.
Coons wrote that he grew up in a Republican household and even interned for a GOP lawmaker. However, he said he was later attracted to the Democratic Party because of its commitment to “justice,” as outlined in Micah 6:8, and due to the influence of “friends who have gently but persistently prodded me … [and] gave me the space to think about my views and examine for myself what it was that I actually believed.”
However, over the past few years, Coons, 62, said he has watched Democrats fall away from a spirit of intellectual curiosity and begin to perpetuate “wrong” messages and policies, matters he suggested led working-class voters to embrace President Donald Trump.
Coons said this week that his party needs to return to the ideas of justice and other values that “draw people to be Democrats to begin with.” Echoing sentiments voiced by former President Barack Obama, Coons urged colleagues to start “listening” to people and stop “telling” them “how to be and what to feel and believe.” He warned that such an attitude could push voters away rather than draw them in.
“True justice is much broader and deeper than purity tests and the ‘cancel culture’ that so many Americans are tired of,” he wrote. “A passion for justice is part of what brought me to the Democratic Party — but those purity tests and quick condemnations of different views, had they been in force then, likely would have thrown me out just as I was beginning to consider these new ideas. If we leave behind the weight of culture wars and focus on improving people’s lives, we can start to rebuild the trust we’ve lost. From there, we can rebuild our coalition. From there, we can rebuild our country.”
Coons also issued a warning specific to how voters view Democrats in Congress.
“Injustice is also tangible,” he wrote. “Voters see it and respond to it all the time. The reason the Jeffrey Epstein scandal resonates so strongly with voters across the partisan spectrum is that it seems to confirm their suspicions that there’s one set of rules for the wealthy and well-connected and another for everyone else. They don’t trust Congress to fix their problems because they think we’re more interested in enriching ourselves through a rigged system than solving problems.”
“More specifically, they don’t trust Democrats. Donald Trump is the most corrupt President of my lifetime, if not in American history. Yet despite the billions of dollars of blatant graft and self-dealing, Democrats are seen as more corrupt than Republicans by a five-point margin,” Coons continued.
Coons is far from the only Democratic senator who has raised concerns over the party’s direction. Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), John Fetterman (D-PA), and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) are among others who have called for changes.
However, in the wake of last month’s elections, many Democrats have sounded a more optimistic note.
“The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s data shows that state legislative Democrats overperformed 2025 elections in targeted districts by 4.5 points on average, which, if replicated in 2026 elections, would provide the most significant Democratic gains at this ballot level in two decades,” the DLCC wrote earlier this month as it announced plans to expand its target map for 2026.
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