From El-Sayed to Turek, Democrats Have a Unity Agenda This November
Democrats have disagreements but they're not in disarray.
You’ve heard a lot about Democratic infighting over the last few weeks. Abdul El-Sayed vs. Haley Stevens. Penny Flanagan vs. Angie Craig. David Crowley vs. Francesca Hong. It’s been a progressive versus moderate showdown everywhere you look.
There are real differences between these candidates, especially over Medicare for All and the situation in Gaza, which are already shaping up to be the defining progressive litmus tests in 2028. Those are big, thorny debates, and the Democrats probably won’t resolve them until they have their next presidential candidate. Fine!
There are also differences in how these candidates are polling: a new set of Fox News polls revealed last week that Abdul El-Sayed is the weakest link so far, running within the margin of error in Michigan, while former Senator Sherrod Brown, in right-leaning Ohio, leads his Republican opponent by eight points.
What you’re not hearing about – and what we think matters a whole lot more in these midterms – are all the policy areas where these candidates agree.
We get that these policies don’t drive headlines. Factional infighting gets more clicks! But that coverage gives the impression that Democrats don’t have a unified agenda.
Today, we’re laying one out. It covers five major issues: the war in Iran, cuts to healthcare funding, reproductive rights, the minimum wage, and stock trading. It’s a top-five list of what Dems across the country are offering, and we brought receipts, so you can see their exact positions.
Democrats may have disagreements. But we also have a plan to rein in President Trump and fix this country.
End the war in Iran
“I’m not going to start a war. I’m going to stop wars.” “I will not send you to fight and die in a foolish, never-ending foreign war.” “No new wars.”
That’s what Trump told voters again, and again, and again in the 2024 presidential campaign. It all fell apart in February, when he started a war with Iran that has ticked over to its 170th day and $37.5 billionth dollar.
To nobody’s surprise, it’s proven to be a political disaster for the Trump administration. In a recent survey, his approval rating on the war is down to 30%; his approval on gas prices has plummeted to just 21%.
Five of the six Democrats running the closest races this cycle have made their positions clear, and we’d suggest that unlike Trump, you can trust them to do what they say.
Josh Turek, Iowa: “I will put an end to forever wars and will always put Iowa and Iowans first”
Troy Jackson, Maine: “Susan Collins handed Trump a blank check for his illegal war in Iran, jacking up costs at home. Mainers won’t forget.”
Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan: “This war must end. This aggression must stop… and Trump must be held accountable.”
Sherrod Brown, Ohio: “We need to end this war and stop this chaos.”
James Talarico, Texas: “Suspend the gas tax. Suspend the diesel tax. End the war in Iran.”
Oppose cuts to healthcare funding
Trump’s cuts to healthcare in his “Big, Beautiful Bill” were supported by all but three Senate Republicans (Susan Collins was one of those three). The scale of the pain that they inflict is mind-boggling: $1.1 trillion in spending cuts that would see 12 million Americans lose their health insurance over the next eight years.
As we’ve pointed out before, voters say that healthcare ranks above the cost of housing, food, gas and electricity as the most important cost on their mind heading into this election. There’s a reason Obama made it his signature issue in 2008, and it will likely be a critical issue in the next presidential race.
There are big differences between the battleground candidates on Medicare for All, a topic that Hakeem Jeffries waded into on Meet the Press yesterday, telling Kristen Welker that he didn’t support the legislation (he previously did).
But there’s universal agreement that Trump’s cuts to healthcare were an abomination. Opposing these cuts is the unity ticket Democrats can run on in ’26:
Mary Peltola, Alaska: “Dan Sullivan threatened healthcare for one-third of Alaskans and gutted the funding our rural hospitals depend on.”
Turek: “Because of the Big Beautiful Bill, we’re looking at 110,000 Iowans losing their healthcare.”
Jackson: “People in this country deserve to have healthcare.”
El-Sayed: “I will push to immediately repeal Medicaid and ACA subsidy cuts.”
Brown: “I’ll always fight to protect Medicaid and Medicare because they protect hardworking Ohio families.”
Talarico: “Protect and improve the ACA and reverse the Trump administration’s dangerous cuts.”
Codify Roe to protect reproductive rights
It’s hard to believe that this time only four years ago, the future of reproductive rights was a top issue in a major election cycle. It’s fallen off the map since then, but remember, that’s a product of voters feeling hopeless, not that the issue doesn’t matter anymore.
Abortion is still a major topic at the statewide level, where voters have turned out in droves to support constitutional amendments guaranteeing reproductive rights.
Ohio, home to one of the most competitive Senate races this year, is the perfect example: despite voting for Trump by an average of nearly ten points over the last decade, voters supported an amendment restoring Roe protections in the state by 14 points.
It’s a winning issue for Democrats, and a big-ticket item where the party’s battleground candidates are totally aligned:
Peltola: “I would codify Roe v. Wade.”
Turek: “The very first thing that we’ve got to do, and what I give you my pledge on, is that in the United States Senate, I will work to codify Roe.”
Jackson: “It’s time we fight to codify Roe into federal law”
El-Sayed: “I’ll fight to codify the rights once protected by Roe into federal law.”
Brown: [Campaigning in 2022] “By this time next year, the Senate… will have codified Roe.”
Talarico: “Restore reproductive freedom with federal legislation to codify Roe”
Raise the minimum wage
Raising the minimum wage is another issue that doesn’t get the attention it deserves – especially since voters have supported it by large majorities for years.
It still sits at just $7.25 per hour (good luck getting a burrito with that money), and nearly half of all states stick with that baseline, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Again, like most big economic issues, Democratic candidates differ in the approaches they’ll take to support low-wage workers. But the overall message is clear and consistent: increasing the wages of American workers.
Peltola: “Push for real wage increases for Alaska workers” (with tax incentives for companies that pay fair wages)
Turek: “I think that we need to raise it to a $15 minimum wage [and] attach that to a cost of living adjustment to make sure it is going up with inflation”
Jackson: Has already voted to increase the minimum wage in Maine
El-Sayed: Has long advocated for a $15 federal minimum wage
Brown: An original sponsor of legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15
Talarico: “It is time to raise the minimum wage and expand overtime pay”
Ban congressional stock trading
Which brings us to the swamp, fuller than ever under Trump. Putting a stop to corruption and cronyism is about as unified as Democrats get on any issue.
They’re not just targeting Republicans. One of the broadest areas of agreement we could find would affect everyone in Congress: banning congressional stock trading.
Peltola: “Anyone with common sense would ban congressional stock trading”
Turek: Has called for a ban on members of Congress owning or trading stocks
Jackson: “Ban members of Congress from trading stock”
El-Sayed: “I’ll always fight to ban stock trading in Congress and kick dark money out of our politics”
Brown: “Ban congressional stock trading”
Talarico: “Ban Members of Congress from trading individual stocks, engaging in insider trading, and profiting from their positions.”
Democrats aren’t going to agree on everything. They shouldn’t have to. Regardless, from Alaska to Texas, its candidates are offering voters a strong agenda: end Trump’s war, protect healthcare and abortion rights, raise workers’ wages, and clean up Washington.