Defending democracy against an authoritarian challenge may require political priorities that are fundamentally different from the standard playbook for winning elections. In particular, the best way to strengthen a nation’s democratic political system may be to ensure that it is firmly rooted in local politics throughout the nation.
Under the American system of constitutional democracy, a party can win control of a legislative chamber with a majority of votes in just over half of the districts, so parties tend to focus their resources on the districts that seem closest to flipping. Within any district, a party’s efforts to increase voter turnout are best concentrated in the areas where most voters are favorable to the party.
Such incentives have brought America to a political equilibrium in which each party strategically neglects much of the country. In recent years, vast expanses of rural America have been largely abandoned by Democrats. Such neglect of large regions becomes a dangerous strategy, however, when constitutional democracy itself is at risk.
When large groups of voters believe that only one party is really paying attention to them, then they may feel no stake in our system of multiparty democratic competition, and so they may support their elected leader in shaking off democracy’s inconvenient constitutional constraints. With such mass support, an unprincipled president could subvert democracy while portraying his actions as its ultimate fulfillment.
Thus, when the goal is to defend democracy in America, it is vital to ensure that Americans everywhere can see the benefits of having two parties competing for their votes. From this perspective, we may ask, what should the Democratic Party do today?
First and foremost, Democratic leadership can no longer afford to leave millions of voters in Republican-dominated areas believing that nobody in the Democratic Party is listening to them. These are voters who could be encouraging their Republican representatives in Congress to stand up for democracy.
But rebuilding trust where it has been lost will require real efforts to reach people in the communities where they live. To lead this local outreach, the Democratic Party will need a strong roster of candidates for local offices, including local representatives to the state legislature.
The goal of this outreach will be achieved when voters in these Republican strongholds see that they benefit from competitive Democratic candidates offering valuable alternative perspectives on local problems, even if few of these Democrats ultimately get elected. The right priorities are exemplified by Iowa Democrats’ recent successes in state senate races.
Representing voters means listening to them and responding to their concerns, not to the concerns of national party donors or consultants.
The Democratic Party must identify itself as a party that does not just march to its leaders’ commands — a party that everywhere supports candidates who focus on their local voters’ concerns, with a commitment to work for practical solutions in a broad coalition. It is okay to have candidates who are democratic socialists in New York and gun-rights supporters in Utah, if this is what the local voters want.
To recruit strong local candidates in every part of America, the Democratic Party will need effective local party organizations in every county.
Local leaders of county-level Democratic organizations in Republican-dominated areas should be encouraged to form a national network for sharing best-practice ideas for reaching more people in their communities. Their communities are on the front line for the defense of democracy in America today.
Democratic candidates everywhere must be able to assure local voters that their local concerns can be heard also by the higher-level leadership of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, there are now 12 states that have no voice in the Democratic congressional caucuses, where the Democrats’ national political agenda is largely shaped. Congressional Democrats should not be making major decisions about a government shutdown without input from so many states.
To ensure that views from these Republican-dominated red states are not ignored, the House Democratic Caucus should invite these states’ Democratic parties to designate a recent congressional candidate to serve as a liaison with the House Democrats.
Bringing nonvoting representatives of red-state perspectives into the congressional Democrats’ deliberations would be a strong signal of Democrats’ commitment to work for people in every part of America.
America needs two parties with candidates actively listening to voters everywhere and effective channels for communicating local concerns to national party leadership. The Democratic Party, for its part, should do more to support and empower its members who are reaching out to voters in the red states that have been dominated by the Republican party.
Even if voters there still elect Republicans in 2026, our system will be stronger when they have been reminded that their hopes for better public service, even from a Republican-led government, depend crucially on their ability to vote for competitive Democratic candidates in the constitutional democracy that we are trying to preserve.
Roger Myerson is the David L. Pearson Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
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