Democrats in Congress are exploring new avenues to resist President Donald Trump as the party struggles to temper expectations from a frustrated and anxious progressive base.
From procedural tactics to flashy PR stunts to blocking nominees, Democrats are increasingly wielding what limited powers are at their disposal to combat Republicans. But the party is still working to implement lessons learned from the 2024 stinging election losses, including some Trump-like messaging traits that Democrats see as winning tactics in the president’s chaotic second term.
“When we have moments to fight, let’s fight. But we have very few actual legislative tactics,” said Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and ex-senior adviser to former Vice President Kamala Harris. “We have to continue to capture people’s attention.”
Democrats borrow a page from Trump’s showmanship playbook: ‘Take a risk’
The latest headline-grabbing moment, an artform both sides of the aisle concede Trump has perfected, came with Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) expedition to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the mistakenly deported Maryland man who’s become a flashpoint in U.S. politics. Four House Democrats followed suit on Monday to travel to Central America to defend Abrego Garcia.
To the White House, Abrego Garcia is an illegal immigrant and an alleged MS-13 gang member, but to Democrats, he is a wrongly deported father with no criminal charges or convictions who was not provided due process.
The administration has so far thumbed its nose at an order from the Supreme Court for the United States to “facilitate” his return, prompting Democrats to use the episode as the latest example that the U.S. is teetering on the edge of a constitutional crisis.
“The White House and the president have been lying about this case from the beginning,” Van Hollen told reporters after returning from El Salvador. “What this is about is adhering to the Constitution, to the right of due process.”
Republicans have been more than happy to use the saga as a distraction from Trump’s tariffs that continue to roil economic markets. It’s also offered Democrats a crucial moment to go on offense and remain relevant during a two-week congressional recess before resuming the daily grind of battling Trump legislatively.
Nellis’s biggest advice for Democratic lawmakers and candidates to boost their messaging is simple yet something he feels is vastly undervalued by the party: “Take a risk.”
“Go start a YouTube show, go appear somewhere people wouldn’t expect, go host a town hall in somebody else’s district, go fly to El Salvador and try to check out a man in your state who was wrongly deported,” he said. “I think people will reward you for taking the risks and for standing for something.”
A record-long floor speech by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) delayed legislative business and votes on nominees by about a day. But more importantly, Booker, the onetime presidential candidate who’s considered a natural successor to Senate Democrats’ aging leadership roster, breathed fire into an otherwise deflated party that’s seen limited success taking on Republicans’ trifecta over Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
“He was using it to capture and create attention, which is something I think the Democratic Party hasn’t done a good job of because we’re playing by an old rulebook that Donald Trump has, frankly, lit on fire,” Nellis said. “Trump understands the attention economy, I think, better than any president in American history.”
Democrats’ ‘limited’ legislative tools: ‘We’re using all of them’
Pathways to challenge Trump and a broader conservative agenda in Congress exist, but they are predominantly hurdles that are likely to only slow down the GOP’s accomplishments rather than quash them.
Democrats like Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) have put holds on nominees for the Department of Veterans Affairs to protest proposed cuts to its workforce, which would require the GOP majority to use ample floor time to overcome. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) has done the same for hundreds of State Department nominees.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), under fire from progressives for being what they consider an ineffective and out-of-touch leader, is blocking Trump’s top prosecutor picks in New York for two of the country’s most high-profile districts through the so-called blue slip process. Senate Democrats also have rekindled their love for the 60-vote filibuster, used all-night “vote-a-rama” sessions to promote their agenda, and forced some procedural floor votes on prominent nominees that would ordinarily be waived.
Blumenthal said he’ll drop his hold if the administration reverses its department firings, cuts, and personnel freezes. Trump officials have shown no indication they’re willing to consider such positions. Blumenthal suggested Democrats should consider expanding their holds to lower-level nominees across the federal government, citing Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) blockade against hundreds of Pentagon nominees and military promotions under former President Joe Biden.
“We’re limited in terms of the tools that we have, but we’re using all of them,” Blumenthal said. “It will get it will become more burdensome if you decide to do it for lower-level officials.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) placed a hold on Ed Martin, tapped by Trump to be Washington, D.C.’s top federal prosecutor, for his loyalist views to the president and his actions serving in the role on an interim basis.
“As long as this thievery is happening, none of his nominations are going to get expedited treatment,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), a leading voice of Trump resistance among Democrats.
The Republican-controlled Senate even opted to unravel Trump’s emergency declaration used to impose tariffs against America’s friend to the north, Canada, with a privileged measure from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) that was forced to come to the floor. It passed with the help of several GOP senators but was dead on arrival in the House. Still, Democrats vow to recycle the strategy to force more difficult votes for Republicans to roll back Trump’s sweeping tariff policies that are broadly unpopular among conservatives.
Thus far, Republicans seem to be unfazed by Democrats. The GOP has managed to largely remain united on contentious issues and nominees despite narrow majorities. But the party is soon to face its most difficult test yet under Trump 2.0 in the coming months as it seeks to pass legislation on Trump’s agenda on taxes, energy, and the border that threatens to split Republicans during the so-called budget reconciliation process.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) labeled Democrats’ tactics as “performative theater” for a party with record-low approval ratings.
“It’s obvious they’re flailing,” Cruz said before pivoting to sarcasm. “Apparently, they’ve settled on the shocking and new strategy of announcing they really, really hate Donald Trump, which no one really knew before they said so today.”
More centrist and vulnerable Democrats have naturally shied away from their party’s more mainstream Trump-resistance wing.
SENATE DEMOCRATS SEE HOPE FOR MIDTERMS WITH 2024 DOWNBALLOT RESULTS
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a battleground Democrat, has carved a contrarian lane of his own with surprising stances that sometimes align with Trump. He’s been the subject of backlash from Democratic voters, particularly for his support of Israel, and has seen his fundraising take a hit.
“Each of us in the Senate have the freedom to respond or to protest or to vote, and I don’t judge any of their judgments or their votes,” Fetterman said of his colleagues. “I hope, and I think, they would extend the same for me.”