Democrats are heading into the 2026 midterm elections without a clear answer to the question hanging over the party: who can take on sitting President Trump, and who might carry the party into the 2028 presidential race? The midterms are seen as a test of which themes attract voters and which candidates can persuade them, but the elections may not settle the party's direction.
The Democratic Party is still recovering from a difficult period. Former President Joe Biden's refusal to realistically assess his age-related weaknesses lingered, and Kamala Harris's defeat in the presidential election was a deep blow. The party is still finding itself, and even Tuesday's midterms may not provide a final answer on where it goes next.
The most important Democratic races show how varied the party's hopefuls are. Their beliefs, political ideas, biographies and styles differ widely, sometimes appearing almost opposite. What unites them is mainly opposition to Trump and a promise to make life more affordable for people in the United States. There is no common strategy or party line. In healthcare, for example, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan has a very different vision from the Democratic candidate in Georgia.
That reflects the size of the country and its political system. Before congressional elections there is no national forum to settle party positions. There are no party conventions like those in Germany, where delegates argue out disputes and agree a program. Instead, direction fights take place in primaries and campaigns. National conventions before presidential elections mainly ratify and celebrate the primary result.
There is also no powerful party chair. The chair of the Democratic National Committee is mainly concerned with organization. The Democratic leaders in Washington, Chuck Schumer in the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries in the House, focus largely on parliamentary work and on maximizing their caucuses. They support candidates with good prospects of taking a seat from a Republican, and ideological questions are secondary.
Each candidate, whether for the Senate, the House, a governorship or a mayoralty, must build their own network of donors and supporters and find allies. The midterms are therefore also a test of which themes and figures convince voters. That matters for the question of who could be a presidential candidate in 2028.
In Texas, James Talarico is running for the Senate as a 37-year-old Presbyterian who is training to become a pastor. He does not hide his faith and brings Christian conviction into his speeches, deriving progressive politics from it. That stands in sharp contrast to the interpretation of Christianity common among many evangelical Republicans in the Bible Belt. One of his early viral clips showed him in the Texas House opposing a Republican bill that would require public schools to display the Ten Commandments. He called the measure unconstitutional, unchristian and arrogant, saying neighborly love comes first. He now has more than two million followers each on TikTok and Instagram.
Talarico argues that the country is divided not so much between political camps as between rich and poor. He says people at the top work to keep Americans angry and divided because their unity threatens the wealth and power of the elite. He campaigns for bridging ideological divides and finding common solutions to problems that affect everyone. He promises higher wages and wants to take on corporations that drive up prices. On abortion, he supports legal access and considers Texas's ban too far-reaching. Neil Bush, a businessman and brother of former Republican President George W. Bush, recently said he had voted for the Democrat, contrary to family tradition.
In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is trying to hold a Senate seat in a heavily industrial and politically contested state. If he wins, he would be the first Muslim in the Senate. His family is from Egypt. He studied medicine and later led a health agency, and healthcare is his central issue. His core campaign demand is government health insurance for all. He has also written a book, a kind of guide explaining how it could be implemented. Medicare currently covers retirees, and 'Medicare for all' is a demand mainly from the party's left. Many moderate Democrats are more cautious and prefer reforming the existing system, with a public option alongside private offers or cheaper medicines.
El-Sayed is not a Democratic Socialist, but he stands far to the left within his party. He calls for abolishing the immigration agency ICE and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. He campaigns against the rich, saying he wants a government that acts in the interest of the population rather than billionaires. Former Democratic President Barack Obama has endorsed him and campaigned for him.
In Georgia, Jon Ossoff is seeking to keep his Senate seat in a state that Trump won in the last presidential election. Ossoff is 39 and Jewish. Before entering politics he worked as an investigative journalist, and corruption has remained one of his central themes. He says Trump is a disgrace as president and pockets billions for himself and his family while ordinary Americans pay more for gas, food and medicine. Ossoff emphasizes pragmatism: on healthcare he wants a public option for all but not a single-payer insurance system. He wants stronger control of the immigration agency rather than abolishing it, and he ties support for Israel to conditions.
Ossoff has positioned himself clearly against Trump in the campaign. He has countered Trump's provocations with quick replies and attacked contradictory statements and lies, including on Iran. That has been noticed beyond Georgia, and party colleagues count him among possible presidential candidates.
For the Democrats, the elections are therefore both a national test and a set of local contests, with no single leader or strategy emerging so far.
Sources: FAZ.