How should Democrats survive in the wilderness?

All year, Democrats have been locked in one existential debate: Should they smash precedent to counter the Trump and MAGA agenda, or do they attempt to protect and defend institutional guardrails at all costs?

In Washington, the party’s deep minority status has only sharpened the disagreement. Some senators, eager to resist Trump, have urged blockades of Trump administration nominees and aggressive delay tactics. Meanwhile, some centrist Democrats continue to break ranks, siding with Republicans on Trump nominees they view as “moderate” or on “show votes” they worry that will hurt them come election season. 

This split isn’t confined to Capitol Hill. Across the country, from Texas to California, Democrats are mired in similar soul-searching over how to respond to Republicans’ power grabs. For example, with the GOP poised to muscle through new congressional maps in Texas in an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting process — potentially flipping up to five congressional seats — Democrats in solidly blue states face a dilemma of their own: fight fire with fire and redraw their own maps or stick to the high ground they’ve long claimed. 

So you get the idea, the big question is: How do Democrats respond in the deep minority? How can they carve a path from the political wilderness back to real power? Democrats are far from united on an answer. 

Last week, I was back home in East Tennessee visiting family, and I caught up with State Representative Gloria Johnson, a progressive from a swing district who gained national acclaim in 2023 when she joined two other legislators in protesting the GOP majority on the state House floor. Tennessee Republicans moved to expel what became known as “The Tennessee Three,” and Gloria and her two colleagues, Rep. Justin Jones and Rep. Justin Pearson, became something of political celebrities overnight. 

Believe it or not, Gloria and I met as volunteers on then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential primary campaign in 2007, and she has been fighting for Knoxville in the state legislature off and on for over a decade. Republicans in Tennessee have held a supermajority in the state legislature for the entire time she’s served in Nashville, so she knows a thing or two about how power can or can’t be wielded in this case. Our conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. 

Kyle Tharp: Two years ago, the eyes of the nation were on Tennessee as the state legislature moved to expel you and your two colleagues from office for protesting gun violence on the House floor. It was a pretty shocking moment that I know woke a lot of people up. What changed from that experience? What did you learn about power?

Rep. Gloria Johnson: After [The Tennessee Three moment], we had so many new candidates running for office because they were excited, because they actually saw people fighting for them. It just motivated the whole state. It’s also made people pay attention. There are now people showing up in Nashville and watching on TV every day when we're in session. People will text me or message me on some social media platform just to let me know they were watching our work on any given day. 

Now, you have to maintain that energy. We need to use moments to constantly be exciting our base and talking to the people who aren't happy with what's going on. 

I also learned that standing together and pushing back is the smart thing to do. Back then, we had Democratic caucus members who wanted us to apologize for our action. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna apologize for doing my job and for speaking for my constituents. I will never be quiet and not speak for my district. I can also tell you this - two of us asked the Democratic caucus in advance to stand and lock arms with us, and we said what a powerful moment that would be if we all stood together and said, “expel one of us, expel all of us,” and they didn’t do it. 

Kyle Tharp: That’s a pretty striking parallel to what’s happening at the national level right now, as many Democrats in Washington and other state legislatures disagree on how to push back against Trump and MAGA - whether it’s on administration nominees in DC, or this redistricting and gerrymandering mess in Texas. Democrats are far from standing together. What’s your position on trying to work with an extremist MAGA supermajority? Do you try to block everything? Do you try to pass incremental or small good bills? 

Rep. Gloria Johnson: I heard Stacey Abrams speak at a conference once, and she said the only time you pass legislation in a super minority is if you do something to make the majority happy so that they will allow you to pass something. 

Some of my Democratic colleagues do this. We're not passing anything that truly matters. We’re not curing cancer over here, we’re not expanding Medicaid. The 13th Official State Song has been named, woohoo. Nashville hot chicken is now the State Food of Tennessee. Great. (Laughs) They pass these little bills, and it gives them the impression that things are working, that they're doing something in Nashville. 

But people need to understand that things aren’t working in Nashville. 

As Democrats in the super-minority, we have three jobs: to amend, to delay, and to defeat. And we do that, and we do it well. But our job is not to bend over and do the [Republican] Speaker's bidding so we can name hot chicken the Official State Food of Tennessee. 

What the people want to know is that you're fighting for them. And it’s frustrating when Democrats are acting as if it's business as usual. It’s not. 

Kyle Tharp: In the not-distant future, Democrats are facing a catastrophe in the South, as the 2030 Census will likely result in an electoral map that will require the party to win solidly Red states in order to take the White House in 2032. There’s always been talk in DC about the need to invest in the South, but never much money invested. You have won as a progressive in a highly competitive swing district over and over again - what advice do you have for Democrats looking to compete down here?

Rep. Gloria Johnson: I've been able to continually win red districts, staying focused on education and bread and butter issues. The biggest thing is you have to get out there and actually talk to people. You have to be educating your district on the issues. My district understands the issues and what’s at stake for the most part. And I think that that's my job. 

Because I use social media so much, I used to do these long threads and posts to explain the legislative process and people would thank me for helping them understand. Then, they’re more eager to get involved.

Kyle Tharp: Living in DC, I suffer from “Beltway Brain” and it’s so hard to tell what’s real or not, what’s resonating in the rest of the country. What issues do you think are breaking through right now?

Rep. Gloria Johnson: I just got back from a town hall in Lenoir City, Tennessee [a rural part of the state], organized by two women on a Monday afternoon at 2 o’clock, and there were 130 people there. One of their biggest concerns was Trump’s immigration enforcement. People wanted to get involved in support of immigrants, and I connected them with a group in Knoxville that organizes allies to go to the immigration office. 

One thing that's really important to note is how important these kinds of town halls are. I just did one up in Jonesborough hosted by the local Democratic Party, Indivisible, and some other groups where a woman told a story about being pregnant, and her doctor refusing her prenatal care because she was unmarried. That’s because of a bill that my Republican colleagues passed that became law in April. The moment went viral online and in the national media, and brought attention to the issue. If we hadn’t had that town hall out in the district, talking to actual voters, we would never hear stories like this. 

Democrats’ grassroots fundraising magnets

Democratic fundraising giant ActBlue filed its mid-year FEC report, detailing all the contributions it has processed thus far in 2025. Democratic strategists eagerly shared and compiled this new FEC data into spreadsheets showing the total number of ActBlue donations received by Democratic candidates and committees in the first half of the year. It’s a pretty fascinating look at which of the party’s messengers and institutions are running major fundraising campaigns, reaching grassroots supporters, and inspiring them (or scamming them, in some cases) to open up their wallets and donate. Here are the top 10 by total number of individual donations received this year:

Kamala Harris is back on TikTok, sort of

Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced last week at long last that she won’t be running for Governor of California next year, which means she’ll be taking a break from politics for a bit, “at least for now.” She used her public reemergence to announce a new book, and in doing so, posted on her @kamalaharris TikTok account for the first time since Election Day 2024. Her three posts shared on the platform last week received over 18 million views. 

Earlier this spring, I wrote about how Harris was maintaining control of her various social media assets, including the popular @kamalaHQ account on TikTok, for potential future use in a campaign. Now that she’s ruled out a campaign in 2026, it’s possible that she will transfer those online assets to her new PAC or nonprofit and rebrand them.   

More things you should read:

• Adam Bonica published an infuriating, comprehensive look at Mothership Strategies, a Democratic digital fundraising firm that many have accused of deploying some of the most abusive, deceitful practices over the years. Bonica’s report reveals that “at most, $11 million of the $678 million raised from individuals has made its way to candidates, campaigns, or the national party committees.”

• Speaking of some of the worst scammers in Washington, we now know why top Biden advisor Mike Donilon was one of the only people telling Joe Biden to stay in the presidential race last year - he was promised $8 million if they won. 

• Despite his falling out with Donald Trump, Elon Musk is still the largest known individual donor to the primary Republican House and Senate super PACs this year. In late June, he donated $5 million each to the Congressional Leadership Fund and the Senate Leadership Fund, as well as an additional $5 million to Trump-affiliated MAGA Inc. 

• Last week we also found out that MAGA Inc., which remains the President’s primary outside political action committee, currently has a whopping $196 million in the bank. 

• Former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley is running for U.S. Senate in Georgia, joining a crowded field of Republicans hoping to take on Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff next year. As a proud Tennessee Vol during Dooley’s time in Knoxville, I’ve seen firsthand how much he likes to lose.

• In media news: conservative tabloid The New York Post is expanding, launching a West Coast outlet called The California Post. According to Sara Fischer at Axios, Los Angeles is home to the second largest concentration of Post readers.

One last thing: Breaking news

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