Politics
Democrats can’t afford to laugh off RFK Jr.’s biggest appeal to voters
In the days since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump, the former candidate has promised to provoke a “realignment” of environmental politics. While criticizing Democrats for “divisive” climate policies, Kennedy has made the case for environmental policies that could, he believes, “unite the nation,” including a focus on clean air and water, restoring the health of soils, and removing plastics, pesticides and toxic chemicals from supply chains.
There’s one problem with Kennedy’s vision for an environmental realignment: It rests on the electoral vehicle of Trump.
Recently, Kennedy won a vigorous endorsement for this so-called “Make America Healthy Again” agenda from Tucker Carlson in an interview that went viral last week. But there’s one problem with Kennedy’s vision for an environmental realignment: It rests on the electoral vehicle of Trump, who as president appointed profiteers from the plastics industry and Big Agriculture to key roles responsible for food and water safety, gave lobbyists from chemical companies a wish list of concessions, appointed Supreme Court justices who gutted government authority to regulate toxic substances, and now promises to cut government watchdogs and remove “forever chemicals” like PFAS from hazardous substance lists. And that’s to say nothing of his legacy on climate.
It’s easy enough for Democrats to laugh off Kennedy’s comments. Instead, they should make a serious play for his voters.
There’s a clear electoral case for doing so. While Kennedy’s support fell to roughly 5% in three-way matchups nationally after Vice President Kamala Harris entered the race, there was widespread evidencethat the third-party candidate was pulling more from Harris than from Trump. Although it’s hard to forecastwhether Kennedy will be able to persuade his supporters to vote for the Republican, even a single percentage point could be decisive in an election as close as this one. Look at Florida in 2000. Or any of the “blue wall” states in 2016.
Yet, there’s more at play here than swing state electoral math. Kennedy is seeking to give the Republicans something they haven’t had since the Nixon era: a way to claim the mantle of environmentalism. In an age of widespread distrust of big institutions, Kennedy is arguing that Americans can support the environment without supporting big-government climate policies. He is speaking directly to now-substantial wellness-focused demographic subgroups — organic moms, natural parenting advocates, fitness bros — who prioritize clean food, air and water but, especially since the pandemic, are leery of federal agencies and government authority.
So how should Democrats make the case to these voters?
Tell the truth. Drive home the message that Trump is the candidate of toxic chemicals.
While Trump has tried to distance himself from the Project 2025 blueprint, the key environment plans in the document were written by Trump appointees and match with his own promises to gut the “administrative state.” Project 2025 would remove the “hazardous substances” designation of PFAS chemicals — perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl as well as related “forever chemicals.” Federal watchdogs finalized the classification of these substances in April, drawing on evidence that they present a serious threat to human health, including a range of cancers, cardiovascular disease, liver issues and fetal development issues. Extensive research demonstrates that such chemicals damage the functioning of the endocrine system and undercutmen’s testosterone and fertility levels, a fact that should concern Trump’s macho base. Project 2025 plans from Trump advisers moreover seek to eliminate the government’s authority to track Americans’ cumulative exposure to a wide range of toxic chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Acta key defense against virtually all the toxic chemicals that Kennedy warns against.
Extensive research demonstrates that such chemicals damage the functioning of the endocrine system and undercut men’s testosterone and fertility levels, a fact that should concern Trump’s macho base.
To win would-be RFK Jr. voters, Democrats should also propose a proactive agenda on these issues. The Biden administration recently announceda new program to reduce single-use plastics in federal government operations, enhance plastics cleanup, strengthen regulations on toxic emissions from plastics, and modernize plastics recycling infrastructure. But Harris can go further. Her campaign should unveil a more comprehensive plan to counter PFAS and forever chemicals in the food system and supply chains.
Blockbuster reportingin The New York Times last week revealed how toxic sewage sludge with extremely high levels of PFAS and “forever chemicals” is being used to fertilize roughly 70 million acres of U.S. farmland and has been implicated in the deaths of livestock, not to mention untold risks to human health. The Times reported that the EPA has encouraged the use of these recycled biosoils in order to reduce the use of fertilizers made from fossil fuels. Harris could demonstrate her commitment to addressing toxic chemical threats and, in so doing, make a play for RFK Jr. voters by taking a stand to ensure that the government agencies no longer promote the use of such recycled fertilizers.
Trump — who recently promised the oil industrythat he would do anything it wants in exchange for a billion dollars for his campaign — has clear reasons to be beholden to the petrochemical industry as well as Big Ag and manufacturers of ultraprocessed foods. But Harris can and should welcome a fight with these interest groups.
In his interviewwith Carlson, Kennedy passionately declared that “the reason we protect the environment is because there’s a spiritual connection … there’s a love that we have. Our connection to the fish and the birds and the whales and the purple mountains majesty.” This, he argued, is what animated his campaign.
To seize an electoral opportunity, Democrats need to press the case: a vote for Trump is no way to express your love and commitment to Mother Nature.
Justin Talbot Zorn
Justin Talbot Zorn is senior adviser at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., a former senior congressional staffer, and author of a book on the politics of mindfulness. He’s written for the Washington Post,LA Times, New Republic, TIMEand other publications.
Some top congressional Republicans have privately concluded that it is likely impossible for them to keep control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, and they are now focused on limiting the scale of the defeat and salvaging the party’s Senate majority.
Five senior Republican lawmakers, all granted anonymity to speak candidly about their party’s dire position, told Blue Light News the House had all but slipped away.
One senior House Republican said the GOP’s goal at this point was to “save as many Republican seats as we can.” The president, this person said, was not helping.
“President Trump has made this election all about himself,” the lawmaker said. “Now we have to survive that political storm.”
A second Republican member of Congress said the movement of campaign advertising made plain which side was in control of the midterms. This lawmaker predicted Democrats would pick up about 10 seats, more than enough to take control of the chamber.
Even in newly redistricted red states like Florida and Texas, this person said, Republican candidates were “hanging on with their fingernails.”
Republicans have already fallen back from several contested House districts that they feel are no longer winnable, including those held by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa and Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey. Trump carried their districts just two years ago. The party last week gave up on an Omaha-based district held by retiring Rep. Don Bacon.
Trump officials and other top GOP operatives say more candidates may be cut off in the coming days, in order to shift advertising money to races where it can make more of a difference. Republican groups have already given up on multiple races where they once hoped to unseat Democratic lawmakers.
The Republican Party is under extreme pressure across the Midwest, where it is now spending heavily to defend Senate seats in once-reliably MAGA states like Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.
Bacon, a maverick often at odds with the White House, said there was no mystery in his party’s political tribulations.
“I’ve talked to some who are making these decisions: The biggest problem is the president’s polling numbers and unfavorables,” Bacon said.
White House officials insist they’re not giving up on either chamber of Congress. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said Trump remained “committed to maintaining Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.”
As he departed on Tuesday to campaign in Alaska for embattled GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan, Trump professed optimism about the midterms but acknowledged that sitting presidents typically see their party lose seats in the off year.
“But I’m doing a tour right now and I’m doing rallies,” Trump added. “The level of enthusiasm for the Republican Party is way up.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson went even further, flatly declaring during a campaign stop in deep-red Texas that “the polling is wrong” in showing his party on the brink of a broad defeat.
Yet at a tactical level, the Republican Party’s moves to shift money away from defending the House and toward saving the Senate are clear enough. In recent days, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the top super PAC for House Republicans, canceled advertising for key House candidates in Nebraska and Iowa and allowed the Senate Leadership Fund – a Republican group focused on the upper chamber – to swoop in and claim the airtime to support Nebraska Sen. Pete Ricketts and Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for Senate in Iowa.
“These are not the moves of a party that’s going to keep the House,” a third Republican lawmaker said.
In statements to Blue Light News, both CLF and the National Republican Congressional Committee said they had no intention of giving up on the fight for control of the House.
NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said districts are won “one by one,” and that the GOP has “the financial firepower and ground game needed to win.”
Chris Winkelman, president of CLF, said his group would keep moving money around to maximize the impact nationally.
The goal, he said, was to “keep the pressure on the most vulnerable Democrats and preserve a path to 218 seats.”
Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican who lost his swing seat in Trump’s first midterm election eight years ago, said his former colleagues were clear-eyed about where the election seemed to be headed.
“The environment is about as tough as one could expect,” Curbelo said. “There is no one who has privately stated that they believe Republicans can hold the House — not in recent weeks, anyway.”
Megan Messerly, Lauren Fedor, Lisa Kashinsky and Myah Ward contributed to this report.
Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff said Tuesday he will not run for president in 2028 and committed to serving a full six-year Senate term if reelected.
“I have zero interest in running for president. I’m not running for president. I’m running for reelection to the Senate,” Ossoff said during a Georgia Senate debate against Republican Rep. Mike Collins.
Asked by Greg Bluestein of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution whether he would serve his full term if he wins in November, Ossoff replied: “Yes, I will.”
The remarks are Ossoff’s most forceful rejection yet of a potential 2028 presidential bid even as his name has repeatedly surfaced in national Democrats’ conversations about possible contenders for the party’s nomination. His public commitment to a full Senate term on Tuesday is the latest of his campaign’s many efforts to tamp down that speculation.
Ossoff gained national attention this year given his strong fundraising numbers, his consistent lead in public polling against Collins and his ability to generate viral moments on the campaign trail, particularly through his attacks on President Donald Trump. Democrats are bullish about Ossoff’s ability to hold onto his Senate seat — so much so that the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC said Tuesday it was removing its ad spending in Georgia for the week.
He’s also taken steps to boost the state Democratic party in Georgia, a perennial battleground that has been and will be key to winning the presidency. If November brings historic wins up and down the ballot, Ossoff will get some of the credit — and he’ll have confirmed his status as a leader in the swing state.
Democrats may be discovering the political power of calling something rigged.
They’re leaning hard into anti-corruption messaging in the final weeks of the campaign as new research suggests that linking corruption to Americans’ economic struggles can boost Democrats into the home stretch.
Messaging from Democrats that tied corruption to housing, health care and the cost of living increased voter support for Democratic congressional candidates by about 3 percentage points, according to a national survey last month conducted by Blue Rose Research and Democratic-aligned Winning Jobs Narrative Action, which was obtained by POLITICO.
The findings align with a shift in how Democrats are talking about corruption — and help explain why that message has exploded on the campaign trail. From Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia to James Talarico in Texas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Democrats have zeroed in on a common argument: Washington is rigged to benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyday Americans.
“We have a corruption crisis in this country, and it is leading to an affordability crisis,” Iowa Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek said during his Senate debate against Rep. Ashley Hinson last week.
It’s a message that is reverberating across campaigns. In a recent presentation delivered to Democratic groups on Capitol Hill, longtime Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson offered a succinct playbook: “Corruption is why your costs are high,” according to the presentation viewed by Blue Light News.
His presentation also encouraged Democrats to lead with the acknowledgement that costs are high and then go into corruption, acknowledge that it happens across parties and avoid making President Donald Trump the sole focus of their attacks. “Trump works as an example of corruption that raises costs, not as the whole case,” the presentation said.
Since April, Democratic candidates and outside groups in House and Senate races have spent roughly $104 million on advertising mentioning corruption, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans, meanwhile, have spent $36 million across House and Senate campaigns over the same period.
“It’s not just like, ‘oh, look at what’s happening with the ballroom,’ or ‘boy, Donald Trump’s made a lot of money on crypto,’” Democratic strategist Chris Meagher said. “You have to be able to tie it to the impact on people’s lives.”
“The narrative works best when it’s an outsider candidate who is linking a rigged economy to a rigged political system,” longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said of the anti-corruption messaging.
Running against corruption is not new. But as Democrats looked for a way out of the political wilderness after 2024, they began turning a familiar attack — anti-corruption — into a broader message tied to voters’ economic pain. What once was an attack largely focused on Trump has become a more expansive argument for candidates trying to connect it to why Americans are struggling financially, potentially providing a blueprint for the party beyond November.
“Democrats used to talk about corruption as a crime. Now corruption is the explanation for costs,” Ferguson, the Democratic strategist, said.
The issue — and messaging around it — is also coming to the fore in a cycle when anger over the suppression of Epstein files hit a fever pitch and public pressure to ban Congress from trading stocks continues to mount.
And it’s not just the research by Blue Rose that shows the potential potency of that message.
In another recent survey from the Democratic group Navigator Research, obtained by Blue Light News, the vast majority of Americans — both Democrats and Republicans — say corruption is driving up their costs. That same survey of registered voters, conducted in August, found majorities, including roughly a quarter of Republicans, say Trump is bringing more corruption to Washington than fixing it.
And new results from the nonpartisan Center Square’s Voter Voice Poll, conducted this month by Noble Predictive Insights and shared first with Blue Light News, show 10% of voters ranking government corruption as the second most important issue facing Americans, tied with the economy and jobs, and only behind inflation and price increases.
In some instances, Democrats have wrested the word “rigged” away from Trump who has used it in the context of unproven election fraud and turned it into a mobilizing political talking point. That’s a departure from March 2024 when Democrats criticized then Rep. Katie Porter for accusing special interests of spending money to “rig” the California Senate race after she lost in the state’s primary. But now some Democrats are embracing that language as a way to rail against what they see as a corrupt system.
“They’re rigging the rules to benefit their wealthy donors and corporate special interests,” former Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown said in a message to supporters announcing the launch of his campaign to return to office.
But the corruption resonates across parties. Republicans who spoke with Blue Light News said Democrats do not own the issue — voters everywhere are animated by it. While polling shows that voters in both major parties believe the government is corrupt, Republicans accuse Democrats of lacking credibility on the issue.
“Americans have been disgusted by the level of self-serving corruption that spread like herpes through the slimy politicians who run the Democrat Party, and now they’re suddenly changing their tune because it’s an election year,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella said in a statement. “Voters see through the facade, and they know Republicans are cleaning up the rot left behind by Democrat leaders.”
On the Senate side, National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson Bernadette Breslin pointed Blue Light News to a poll in Minnesota — a rare offensive opportunity for Senate Republicans this cycle — that shows there are just about as many voters who blame Democratic Gov. Tim Walz for widespread fraud of federally-funded government programs in the state as there are who blame the criminals. Walz’s lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, is running for Senate against Republican Michele Tafoya, and corruption under Democratic rule is a key theme for Republicans in the race.
“The overwhelming majority of Minnesotans blame the Walz-Flanagan administration — and the criminals it aided and abetted — for plundering their hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” Breslin said. “They’ll vote for Michele Tafoya to right the ship this November.”
Steve Pierce, executive director at Winning Jobs Narrative Action, said one of the biggest shifts for Democrats this cycle on corruption has been a move away from a message largely rooted in concerns over democratic norms, which have struggled to break through in a way that moves voters in past cycles.
“You’ve seen Democrats, rather than connecting corruption to democracy, connecting it to affordability, connecting it to the top concern that voters have,” said Pierce. “It’s connecting it in a way that’s meaningful to voters around the things that they are thinking about every day.”
The anti-corruption message has played out across the country, and as an explanation for frustration against different economic pain points, including rising electric bills and local data center projects.
A recent memo on data centers from House Majority PAC, the main super PAC working to elect House Democrats, noted the “message environment in the 2026 election cycle has been dominated by costs, with an important secondary theme around corruption that began to emerge last year.” The group’s spokesperson, CJ Warnke, told Blue Light News that “every single poll and every single focus group shows affordability to be voters’ number one issue, and they specifically point to corrupt politicians as being responsible for driving up prices.”
Next month’s midterms will offer the clearest test yet of whether Democrats can turn this message into votes. But Democratic operatives increasingly see anti-corruption messaging as more than just a short-term political weapon — as long as they try to do something about it if they win control next year.
“I think the thing for Democrats, if they do want to keep it on the radar heading into 2028, and I think they should because I think it is a really potent issue for them, they are going to have to also deliver on it,” said Pierce.
“They have to be able to show up to get caught trying,” he said.
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