Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D-Newton) thinks his party has a problem, but he doesn't think the solution is to copy what worked for the Republican Party..Auchincloss acknowledged that the Democratic Party struggled to appeal to the American people during the 2024 election in a recent podcast appearance with Ezra Klein of The New York Times.Republicans gained the presidency and the U.S. Senate and kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives. President Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the national popular vote in 20 years.Though Democrats lost, Auchincloss said he doesn't think his party should moderate its liberal social values to win people back, calling that strategy "Diet Coke" populism."The biggest city in my district, Ezra, Fall River, which is the exemplar of a multi-ethnic working class city, voted for a Republican in 2024 for the first time in 100 years -- and Democrats have been looking at cities across the country like Fall River and have said, 'Well, if they're doing populism, we gotta do populism, too,' " Auchincloss said during the podcast. "Whether that's immigration or trans issues or the culture wars -- and my view of that is voters who ordered a Coca-Cola don't want a Diet Coke. There's two different parties and we have to start by understanding who our voters are not and then understand who our voters could be and go and try to win them over."Auchincloss explained that he doesn't think the types of voters who vote largely based on what he calls culture war issues will ever vote for Democrats."If you walk into the polls and your number-one issue is guns, if you walk into the polls and you're number-one issue is immigration, if you're walking into the polls and your number-one issue is trans participation in sports, you're probably not going to be a Democratic voter," he said. "That's O.K.. There's two parties. But if you're a voter who went Obama-Trump-Biden-Trump and you're walking into the polls and your number-one issue is cost of living, boy, we better win you back."The New York Times published an edited transcript of the podcast on February 18, 2025. A video of the full hour-plus interview is available here.Auchincloss's approach to social issues differs from that of a fellow Massachusetts Democratic congressman, Seth Moulton (D-Salem), who shortly after November 2024 election slammed the Democratic Party for what he sees as its worst impulses.Moulton used the Democrats' support of male transgender-identifying athletes in girls' sports as an example of how in his view the party is out of touch with the American people."Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face," Moulton told a New York Times reporter in November 2024. "I have two little girls. I don't want them getting run over on the playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that." Auchincloss has never spoken as forcefully or clearly about transgender-identifying males playing female sports.Auchincloss told The Boston Globe in November 2024 it's a local issue that needs "science-driven" policies.“It’s super-complicated, sport by sport, age bracket by age bracket, level of competition,” he said at the time.
Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D-Newton) thinks his party has a problem, but he doesn't think the solution is to copy what worked for the Republican Party..Auchincloss acknowledged that the Democratic Party struggled to appeal to the American people during the 2024 election in a recent podcast appearance with Ezra Klein of The New York Times.Republicans gained the presidency and the U.S. Senate and kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives. President Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win the national popular vote in 20 years.Though Democrats lost, Auchincloss said he doesn't think his party should moderate its liberal social values to win people back, calling that strategy "Diet Coke" populism."The biggest city in my district, Ezra, Fall River, which is the exemplar of a multi-ethnic working class city, voted for a Republican in 2024 for the first time in 100 years -- and Democrats have been looking at cities across the country like Fall River and have said, 'Well, if they're doing populism, we gotta do populism, too,' " Auchincloss said during the podcast. "Whether that's immigration or trans issues or the culture wars -- and my view of that is voters who ordered a Coca-Cola don't want a Diet Coke. There's two different parties and we have to start by understanding who our voters are not and then understand who our voters could be and go and try to win them over."Auchincloss explained that he doesn't think the types of voters who vote largely based on what he calls culture war issues will ever vote for Democrats."If you walk into the polls and your number-one issue is guns, if you walk into the polls and you're number-one issue is immigration, if you're walking into the polls and your number-one issue is trans participation in sports, you're probably not going to be a Democratic voter," he said. "That's O.K.. There's two parties. But if you're a voter who went Obama-Trump-Biden-Trump and you're walking into the polls and your number-one issue is cost of living, boy, we better win you back."The New York Times published an edited transcript of the podcast on February 18, 2025. A video of the full hour-plus interview is available here.Auchincloss's approach to social issues differs from that of a fellow Massachusetts Democratic congressman, Seth Moulton (D-Salem), who shortly after November 2024 election slammed the Democratic Party for what he sees as its worst impulses.Moulton used the Democrats' support of male transgender-identifying athletes in girls' sports as an example of how in his view the party is out of touch with the American people."Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face," Moulton told a New York Times reporter in November 2024. "I have two little girls. I don't want them getting run over on the playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that." Auchincloss has never spoken as forcefully or clearly about transgender-identifying males playing female sports.Auchincloss told The Boston Globe in November 2024 it's a local issue that needs "science-driven" policies.“It’s super-complicated, sport by sport, age bracket by age bracket, level of competition,” he said at the time.
