Now, some progressives think they need to rebrand themselves as populists to recapture blue-collar America and to show how Trump’s policies, pitched as a populism agenda, actually operate behind the curtain.

The Democratic Party as a whole is undergoing a revamping period after the 2024 election, with progressives insisting leadership inject fresh blood and passionate policies into their ranks to break up the GOP trifecta in 2026 and reclaim the White House in 2028. 

Many progressives have called for a change in messaging, encouraging new ways to reinforce liberal policies they think will speak to voters. But several progressives are insisting it’s not just a messaging alteration that’s needed — it’s a complete rebranding of the policies’ substance

“If you’re a working-class party, you have to reject billionaire influence,” said Faiz Shakir, a former campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “You have to be willing to stand with striking and organizing workers, and you have to be willing to stick your necks out against corporate power when you feel like they’re robbing working people.”

“That would at least realign the Democratic Party with its historical lineage,” Shakir, a long-shot contender for Democratic National Committee chairman, added.

Many progressives have noted that Trump ran on a populist platform — no taxes on tips, no taxes on Social Security, and lowered housing costs. His viral video riding around in a garbage truck and wearing a McDonald’s apron also boosted his support with working-class voters, turning them away from then-candidate Kamala Harris and former President Joe Biden during the 2024 election.

But, progressive Democrats argue, his friendships with billionaires like Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai give Democrats ample ammunition to turn that against him. The three men, along with other technology moguls, sat in the front row at Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, sitting ahead of members of Congress and everyday constituents — the ones progressives charge he isn’t really fighting for.

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairman Greg Casar (D-TX) said he thinks that visual is a “real opening and opportunity for progressives to lean into our economic agenda.”

“We’re doing our best to actually start showing our voters that we’re fighting for them and willing to stand up to that billionaire class,” Casar said. “Frankly, Donald Trump is also helping do some of this work for us, because he used to keep the billionaires behind the curtain. Now he’s got them in the front row.”

Could the ‘Progressive Caucus’ shift to a ‘Populist Caucus’?

Almost three months after the 2024 election, Democrats are huddling at the Gaylord National Resort outside of Washington, D.C., to choose new leadership after stinging losses. 

Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York Democratic Party, said the DNC elections represent a chance for change.

“The progressive messaging is leaving people behind in the competitive districts throughout the country,” Jacobs told the Washington Examiner. “It appeals to people who are very progressive, and that’s fine, and they need a voice, but it turns off a lot of people that are moderate and would be Democratic if they didn’t feel we were moving too far to the left.”

“You can be for equality and opportunity for all people without offending others unnecessarily, which sometimes the progressive groups have done with too much frequency,” Jacobs added.

Progressives have pointed to polling to suggest the basis for the branding shift. 

The Progressive Change Institute and Data For Progress conducted surveys in Michigan and Pennsylvania in November that showed the economy was the deciding factor for voters in those swing states, but Harris missed opportunities to play up economic populism.

Voters trusted Trump more on the economy and expected him to enact a populist-style agenda of increasing taxes on billionaires and big corporations, expanding Medicare, and addressing corporate grocery price gouging.

Progressives are also looking to the Senate campaign of Dan Osborn as informative. The independent who ran on economic issues came within 7 percentage points of GOP Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) in red Nebraska in 2024 and far outperformed Harris who lost by 20 points to Trump. Osborn has since launched a political action committee to elect working-class candidates with a message of top vs. bottom, instead of Left vs. Right. 

But will the “Progressive Caucus” become the “Populist Caucus”? Several House Democrats and members of the Progressive Caucus told the Washington Examiner that a moniker shift doesn’t matter so much as the messaging that comes with it.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), who admitted he isn’t a “messaging expert,” said he thinks Democrats need to be better at communicating Trump sound bites to connect the dots “in five sentences or less, versus our usual two hours or more.” Republicans have blasted Democrats over the years for talking down to people, with several arguing the average voter does not like to feel stupid.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) agreed with Shakir that Democrats are facing an issue of “substance,” arguing that a change in name to “Populist Caucus” isn’t as important as conveying respect and a “real compelling economic vision” to voters.

“What we call it, I don’t think, is as important as what we stand for,” Khanna said.

Not all Democrats are convinced the progressive movement can shift into a populist mindset after working so hard to push the establishment farther and farther leftward.

“I think that the nature of the beast is that they don’t understand what that even means,” Democratic strategist Erick Sanchez said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “I think they’re going to stick to their guns and continue to harp on policies that are unpopular with voters because they’re so entrenched in their beliefs that they don’t see any need to move to the middle.”

Sanchez disagreed with Casar that the presence of Musk, Bezos, and other billionaires could aid their new agenda, instead arguing it could work to Trump’s advantage.

“On one hand, a lot of people admire that Elon Musk built a company from scratch,” Sanchez said, noting many of the billionaires present at the inauguration built companies from the ground up. “You know, just to say, ‘Oh, look at all these rich guys,’ I don’t see that as a winning strategy.”

However, Sanchez said exposing corporate greed could work in Democrats’ favor, particularly if Trump moves forward with tax cuts for billionaires or caters to Wall Street over everyday kitchen table issues. 

Joesph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, said in an interview he thinks Democrats made a mistake in 2016 by dismissing Trump’s populist campaign. But even with a GOP trifecta in power, he thinks Trump will be unable to fulfill the promises he made for his first 100 days and the four years of his administration.

“I think we’re going to have to expose — at the end of the day, I don’t think Trump and the MAGA Republicans can fulfill their populist agenda when we’re talking about massive cuts from taxing the rich, gutting the government — every federal employee has been asked to resign — I mean, all of this will come at a cost,” Geevarghese said.

Our Revolution, a progressive grassroots movement, grew out of Sanders’s presidential run in 2016 — and Geevarghese thinks Democrats and progressives should follow his apporach.

“Bernie, I think, is calling it as he sees it,” Geevarghese said. “Even this moment he says, ‘There’s oligarchy rising. We need to return to the populist message.’”

The issue, Geevarghese said, is that Democrats have sidelined vocal and enthusiastic progressives like Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). For Ocasio-Cortez in particular, the once-fiery progressive has sought to become more mainstream during her time in Congress. 

She, like others in her caucus, argued that the 2024 election was lost because of Democrats’ unwillingness to call out corporate greed, elites, and big-money donors — because many Democrats reap the rewards from super PACs in their campaigns. Ocasio-Cortez, her fellow “Squad” members, and the CPC as a whole have demanded the DNC enact major reforms when it comes to PAC donations and prioritize campaign strategies to attract young voters. 

The New York Democrat waged an unsuccessful bid to become the House Oversight Committee’s ranking member, losing to the more senior Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA). Connolly won in part due to the whipping behind the scenes by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). 

Ocasio-Cortez had told the Washington Examiner she saw her campaign to be the top Democrat on the powerful committee as an “important moment of generational change” — but even fresh off the 2024 election, it was not enough for establishment Democrats to take a chance on her leadership.

“We’re having an internal war about the future,” Geevarghese admitted.

Progressives argue shedding light on Trump’s results could be winning strategy

Shasti Conrad, candidate for DNC vice chair and first woman of color to lead the Washington state Democratic Party, said progressives should draw a comparison between their intentions and Trump’s.

“I think Trump’s version of populism is rage. I think our version of populism has to be hope,” Conrad said. “And I think we’ve got to remind people that when Democrats are in power, that we actually can make people’s lives better, and when we get power, we have to do it.”

A significant reason for the Democrats’ downfall in the 2024 election was the lack of response to the barrage of attack ads from Republicans on transgender rights. The GOP spent nearly $215 million on the issues — and several Democratic lawmakers said leaving the ads unanswered cost the party heavily in the congressional and presidential races.

Democrats have pushed back against the GOP’s claim that they are the party of culture wars, pointing to the money poured into pushing the transgender ads and Republicans’ prioritizing bills like the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025. 

“I think that the Progressive Caucus needs to do a better job, and the progressives in the country need to do a better job of connecting the dots for why it is that Donald Trump keeps starting these culture wars,” Casar said.

Casar admitted, however, “Progressives have not always been the best at connecting those dots.” 

Sanchez thinks it may be too late for progressives to step away from social issues.

“The problem with many of the progressives is they take on every issue, and the economic ones get diluted because they’re too busy fighting on other marginal issues that aren’t popular … you know, you can’t speak about housing affordability in the same sentence,” the strategist said. “It’s just impossible.”