Last Friday, July 18, state and local Democratic Party officials welcomed Beto O’Rourke to the Convention Center for a town hall and listening session about the future of the party and the nation. The event was organized by Powered by People, a Texas-based voter-mobilization organization launched in 2019 by O’Rourke, the onetime presidential hopeful and former U.S. representative from Texas.
Around 100 people filled the conference room on a Friday night, with a small stage in the center of the room. State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta of the 181st District gave the opening remarks: recalling the uphill battle of the civil rights movement, he made an impassioned call not to be discouraged by the present adversity the left is facing.
He turned over the microphone to state party vice chair and state senator Sharif Street, who denounced the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for the uncertainty it had wrought on his constituents by cutting food stamps, disaster preparedness programs and Medicare as well as jobs tied to it. After pledging the party’s commitment to retaking the House in the upcoming midterm elections, he stepped aside to introduce O’Rourke.
Just as O’Rourke was poised to begin speaking, one man stood up, identifying himself as an Army veteran and relative of local congressman Dwight Evans. His circuitous remarks eventually coalesced into a demand surely at the forefront of many audience members’ minds: How had Donald Trump ended up back in the White House?
“That’s what brought us out here today. There’s something going on in this country that is not right,” O’Rourke told him, bringing the conversation back on track. Always self-effacing, he soon won the room over with local anecdotes and an earnest democratic idealism.
His pitch for hosting a town hall revolved around making a face-to-face connection with others, regardless of party or place, to realize an American democracy – “one that we do not have to date” – free from big money, gerrymandering and restrictive voting policies. These good-government ideals drew big cheers, with more following for his advocacy for an “economic democracy” to support political democracy.
“If the folks in America cannot get what they need from a government of the many, pretty soon they’re going to be open to getting what they need from a government of the few. Or a government, even, of one,” he noted pragmatically.
With O’Rourke having shown himself unafraid of seeking office, it would be difficult not to speculate whether the town halls are workshopping for a future platform. But if that is the case, he referred to his own record only scarcely and spared no criticism for the Democratic establishment and its weaknesses that cost it Congress and the White House last year.
“We seek something different. What we’ve been doing has not been working. I’m a proud, lifelong Democrat, but the triangulation, the calculation, this infatuation with money and digital technology and all that it can do and buy and reach people – it’s missing something… common sense and soul,” he argued.
He used the party’s apparent fixation with “correctness” versus effectiveness as an example: for instance, Democrats refusing to appear on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast because he’s “too conservative” at the expense of not reaching people, at a time when “we need to be everywhere.” Most importantly, he urged, Democrats can send a message by delivering in Washington instead of “rolling over.”
O’Rourke is not the first to propose a new way forward for Democrats. Local party figures, including Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey and Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware have aligned themselves with the emerging “Majority Democrats” PAC – a self-identified group of younger elected officials who are proven winners in battleground elections. Similarly, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan has emerged as an outspokenly centrist voice among Democrats, proudly branding herself as “normal.”
Even as their ideologies differ, all these voices have one important goal in common: winning.
They have been unafraid to criticize how former President Joe Biden’s transition was bungled by the Democratic establishment and the damage it did down-ballot.
“We’re basically telling the American public, ‘Are you gonna believe us or your lying eyes about Joe Biden?’” O’Rourke said. “I mean, the American public had made that decision. He was not fit to continue that job. Even if he was fit to make the policy and make the decisions, he could not communicate what he was doing to the American people. And I would say that’s 90 percent of the job of being president.”
“There was a good question about Chuck Schumer and some other leaders right now, who – we thank them for their service – but now it might be the time to get out of the way and allow new and energetic people [in],” he later added.
The questions reflected an audience receptive to change and not without grievances. Many asked about connecting with voters, building a party with more integrity, getting money out of politics and the future of party leadership.
One frustrated woman from Scranton complained, “We’re hearing from a Texan, and our state senators won’t talk to us. They won’t come have town halls with us. Other representatives don’t talk with us either,” referring to Sen. John Fetterman and Republicans alike.
Suggestions also flew in: bullying elected officials on social media. A proposed general strike. Boycotting taxes. O’Rourke’s input was to protest – “be the lone person on the street corner,“ and to start today.
“Every politician that’s ever come before has told you that this is the most important election of our lifetimes. They said that in 1998, in 2002, and on, and on and on. This one? I mean, if there is not a check on Donald Trump going into 2028, he has already told us that he is going to pursue a third term. He has a majority of the Supreme Court that will help him try to do that,” he reflected.”
“This is really kind of our last, best hope. But if we start working on it in 2026, we’re cooked. We’ve got to do the work right now.”