"No one knew what the hell we stood for": Dems ease off democracy message for '25

Top Democrats in Tuesday's elections are moving away from campaigning on the idea of saving democracy, even as President Trump grows bolder about seizing power.Why it matters: Party officials and strategists tell Axios they're course-correcting after being rejected in the 2024 presidential race by voters who cared more about high prices than Trump's impact on democratic norms."No one knew what the hell we stood for," Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin acknowledged in an interview, explaining the party's shift toward a more economic-focused message.Zoom in: This year's Democratic gubernatorial candidates — Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey — both calculated that what moves persuadable voters isn't Trump targeting his political enemies or steamrolling Congress.Instead, in the final days of their campaigns, the candidates for governor are promising to lower costs, touting their crime-fighting biographies, and tying their opponents to Trump's handling of pocketbook issues.In her closing TV ad, Spanberger — a former CIA officer — casts herself as a former law enforcement official who went after "drug rings and child abusers."And in her last spot, Sherrill — a former Navy helicopter pilot — showcases her background as a federal prosecutor and promises "no sales tax increases, period" as well as a "state of emergency on utility costs."Between the lines: Their strategies amount to a rejection of former Vice President Harris' approach in last year's presidential campaign, which often focused on Trump as a threat to democracy.Harris delivered her major closing argument at Washington's Ellipse — where Trump had spoken to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 — warning that her opponent was a "petty tyrant," and that America was "not a vessel for the schemes of wannabe dictators."What they're saying: As Martin hit the road this week to campaign for 2025 Democratic nominees in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia on Sunday, he offered some insight into the DNC's thinking about the elections ahead."It's not to say that people don't care about democracy," he said, but "what really trumps that, no pun intended, is their concerns over their own economic condition."In 2024 and other elections, he said, Democrats "started to message smaller and smaller parts of our coalition," confusing some working-class voters and others the party needed to win. He said that in her 107-day campaign, Harris "tried to pivot back to those kitchen-table issues, but it was too little, too late."Zoom out: This isn't to say that Spanberger and Sherrill aren't talking about Trump. They are — a lot.56% of Democratic ad airings in the governor's race in New Jersey since last year have focused on the president, according to an analysis conducted on behalf of Axios by the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.43% of Democratic spots in Virginia's gubernatorial election have done so.But the general election ads largely have tried to link Spanberger and Sherrill's opponents — Winsome Earle-Sears and Jack Ciattarelli, respectively — to Trump on topics such as Medicaid cuts, housing costs and tariffs.Reality check: There's still a hunger in the party's liberal base for taking on Trump over democratic ideals.In California, Democrats have argued that passing Proposition 50 — which would redraw the state's congressional map to create more Democrat-leaning districts in response to GOP redistricting elsewhere — is essential to safeguarding democracy.In rallies for Spanberger and Sherrill on Saturday, former President Obama tore into Trump's "lawlessness," saying "the stakes are now clear" and "we don't need to speculate about the dangers to our democracy."In Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court race, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) starred in a TV ad backing the Democratic justices who are up for retention, warning that "the threats to our freedoms are very real." But he only cited abortion rights and birth-control access as specific examples.The big picture: Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic campaign veteran, summed up the party's approach in Virginia and New Jersey: "The way to defeat authoritarianism isn't to scream about authoritarianism. It's to expose how expensive it is."Tuesday's races, in which Democrats are favored, will test that theory.