Chris Murphy argues Democrats need to embrace populism

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) is arguing that Democrats need to embrace populism to reconnect with the working-class electorate following the 2024 election, which was a “cataclysmic event” for his party.

The Connecticut senator is one of many Democrats who have reflected on a disastrous performance for the party. Democrats lost the White House to President-elect Trump, and Republicans also secured the majority in both chambers of Congress.

Exit polls indicate the party in particular has lost the support of working-class voters to Trump and the GOP.

Murphy said Democrats in future elections must be willing “to listen to what voters are telling us.”

“There are many factors to winning back the majority of lower income voters, but I am confident that one key element is being more purposeful and transparent in talking about power — why corporations and billionaires have too much, and why we, as Democrats, are the only party that is serious about putting that power back in the hands of workers,” Murphy wrote in a memo that was obtained by The Hill.

Murphy drew from his own electoral success this year, which saw him secure his third term in the Senate and run 4 points ahead of Harris in the blue-leaning state of Connecticut.

His theory is that economic populism gained “traction” in his home state, and that it can be translated nationwide.

“To some, Connecticut – one of the highest income states in the nation and the bedroom community for Wall Street – may not seem like a place where economic populism would have traction. But it does. And if it sells in Connecticut, it sells everywhere,” Murphy said.

In the three-page memo, Murphy, whom some see as a potential future presidential candidate, shared some of the polling data he and his team collected from Connecticut residents, arguing that “a populist message of power deconcentration is a truly unifying message – across income brackets and political ideologies.”

They found that 82 percent of respondents somewhat or strongly agreed that one of the country’s biggest issues is that a “handful of corporations and economic elites have too much power and the government is doing too little about it.”

About 92 percent of Democrats, 81 percent of independents and 69 percent of Republicans agreed with the statement. Approximately 88 percent of non-college-educated voters and 80 percent of college-educated voters concurred.

Some 85 percent said Americans think that they cannot get ahead economically no matter how much they try, including 83 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of Republicans and 84 percent of Independents.

Just days following the 2024 presidential contest, Murphy criticized his party, saying the left does not reach voters because “we don’t listen enough; we tell people what’s good for them.” He also stated that Democrats “refuse to pick big fights. Our tent is too small.”

“No one, including me, has all the answers right now, but what we know for certain is that Democrats must reclaim our identity as the party of the working class,” Murphy wrote in the memo.