Democrats Should Be a "Pro-Normal" Party

A personal plea from a young Democrat for the party to learn from past mistakes in appealing to normal voters—and promise to do better in 2024.

Democrats need to offer a welcoming hand to all Americans. (Design: PenWin via Getty Images)

2022 was supposed to be an election year where Democrats faced a reckoning with mainstream Americans. Instead, they only narrowly lost the House and held on to the Senate. So far, 2024 is full of hot takes on the likely outcome of November’s election—particularly as to whether or not Biden can defeat Trump a second time. 

But the question no one seems to be asking is: What will it actually take to win—and what happens if we do?

Now that former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley has officially dropped out of the race—creating a moderate coalition of more than 3 million voters in the process—and both party leaders have clinched their nominations, the head-to-head of Biden vs. Trump has officially commenced. 

Several months ahead of November’s Election Day, I sincerely hope that we Democrats can avoid the pitfalls of our party’s past and learn not to make the same mistakes. 

What were those mistakes? 

(1) Saddling the Democratic party brand with unpopular rather than popular policies. Between 2021 and 2023, America made it through a global pandemic while Democrats passed the American Rescue Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan, and both the CHIPS and Inflation Reduction Acts. These impressive pieces of legislation weren’t well-communicated with the general public, and they were coupled with unpopular progressive policies and rhetoric that people did actually hear about, negatively impacting the Democratic Party’s national brand. 

What’s more, average Americans need more tangible improvements—like lowering the cost of groceries or federal interest rate cuts—to point toward rather than legislative accomplishments they may deem simply as “government actually doing their jobs.”

(2) Allowing activist groups and progressive staffers to define what it means to be a Democrat—rather than more moderate party officials and candidates. As Democrats look to build upon and share our wins as a party, it’s time we ask ourselves what our party’s infrastructure looks like moving forward. Are we going to allow the same progressive staffers and organizations that have corrupted the party, burned bridges with independents and moderate Republicans, and raised hell for moderate Democratic officeholders to keep doing what they’ve been doing?

Thanks to them, the Biden administration has failed to offer shelter to moderate Republican refugees—and expand the tent in a way that would make this election a relative cruise instead of the nail-biter everyone expects.

Take the crucial swing state of Michigan: some 300,000 Republican primary voters cast their ballots for Nikki Haley rather than Donald Trump. In a close general election contest, a small but significant chunk of those voters could make the difference between a Biden victory and a second Trump presidency.

One could argue that President Biden welcomed Nikki Haley voters with open arms after she dropped out of the GOP nomination race shortly after Super Tuesday. And while the nod was important and necessary, actions speak much louder than words—and the Biden administration has had four years to do just that. 

We can’t let Democrats let these voters slip through their fingers a second time, even if Trump isn’t running for president again in 2028 after a loss this November.

(3) Going out of the way to antagonize opposition voters rather than offering a welcoming hand. The fact of the matter is if Americans are begrudgingly re-electing President Biden, they are also begrudgingly re-electing “the Democrats.” If we want to maintain public rapport and support for Democrats, we must supply what voters are demanding—even if that means both welcoming in Republicans and recalibrating what it means to be a Democrat in 2024. Take these three propositions as a starting point:

• Rhetoric that paints all Republicans as villains is bad.

• Snarkiness from Democrats that paints their own party as rude and lacking compassion is bad. 

• Building a coalition in the center that meets voters of all ages and backgrounds is…good.

This fall, there will be millions of moderate Republicans who either vote for Joe Biden or choose not to vote at all. If we don’t start widening the Democratic tent now to welcome them into our coalition, President Biden’s odds grow longer this November. And if President Biden does manage to win, these voters will be politically homeless come 2025 and in need of some friendly outreach. 

We must be honest about the polling that shows plenty of Americans—particularly independent voters—believe Democrats are as extreme as Republicans and instead offer them a party brand and elected leadership that matches the center-left, pragmatic ideology the majority of them hold. 

(4) Forcing purity tests on candidates rather than permitting ideological nuance to help create a big tent—and fight ideological extremism. Building up the “Pro-Normal Party,” as Adam Frisch likes to put it, will mean an end to the purity tests of the past few cycles. And as a bonus, cultivating a strong center-left faction institutionally at the federal level will help us cultivate a strong center-left faction culturally and politically at the state level. 

For example, we need more Blue Dog caucuses in state legislatures full of members who build a strong sense of community as pragmatic Democrats in the same fashion the extremists in the Freedom Caucus have—just with a true sense of progressive populism and patriotism instead of chaotic inflictions upon our democracy. These would be particularly helpful to Democratic state and local officials as we nurture a better national brand in Washington. 

As I wrote late last year, “Black Democrats are moderate,” and Biden moving to the center and building a big tent will only help us with what has historically been our base—not hurt us. There are plenty of Democrats, particularly Black Democrats, who consider themselves on the conservative end and don’t intend to ever become Republicans—but that doesn’t mean they can or will support every policy that many repping the current Democratic brand espouse in 2024.

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Brands matter. You know what to expect when you drive up to a Chick-Fil-A window. Brands breed identity, affiliation, and community. But they can also prove as deterrents to those things, particularly when striking the wrong tone or failing to recognize the actual desires of those in the communities they are seeking to build.

If we actually want to address critical issues like climate change, prescription drug costs, voter protection, and K-12 education, we have to position the party and its brand as a champion for ordinary Americans. 

Electorally, we can’t regain a majority in the House and keep a majority in the Senate without making the Democratic brand more normal. And we can’t govern and advance policy in a Congress that simply doesn’t function. 

Let’s build the big tent that not only helps Democrats win but builds the infrastructure the future of our politics demands—before November’s election.

Lauren Harper is co-founder of WelcomePAC and The Welcome Party, which work to strengthen a coherent, strong and welcoming Democratic Party faction that engages the middle and protects democracy. Lauren writes the WelcomeStack.org newsletter on Substack.