* Generational approach: “You can’t just point at Donald Trump every day and point out the bad things that he’s doing. You have to show a positive, affirmative vision of what you’re going to do if you’re in power. … We need a new generation across the board.” That was Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin. You may remember that it was Slotkin who gave the Democratic response to President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress back in March.
* “Part of what Democrats are looking for…is someone who could imagine appealing to working voters and black working voters, Latino working voters, even rural working voters.”–Princeton history Professor Julian Zelizer.
* “There is budding reluctance to risk winning the White House back on the chance to make history.”–Democratic strategist Christy Setzer. In short, not a welcome assessment for Kamala Harris, Gretchen Whitmer and Pete Buttigieg. BTW, Michigan Gov. Whitmer recently met personally with Trump to show her constituents she would even cross that rubicon to make a high-profile case for how tariffs are adversely impacting the auto industry, including Michigan job losses. It was a pragmatic effort on behalf of finding common ground that would benefit her state. Michigan was a critical “blue wall” state that flipped Republican in 2024.
* “I think the key to Democratic victories is to understand that you got to stand unequivocally with the working class of this country.”–Sen. Bernie Sanders.
* “We can’t stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country.”–California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is pushing a plan for redistricting to counter the Texas effort to redraw a Republican-favored redistricting map. The bottom line: voters pick politicians; politicians don’t pick voters.