Can the Democrats stage a comeback?

2024 was a warning shot. 2026 will be the reckoning. The Democratic Party needs less ego, more honesty—and a message that finally shows up for the people who never stopped showing up for them.

Democratic messaging faceplanted in 2024.

The campaigns screamed "democracy is dying!" in one breath and "come on feel the joy!" in the next. It was a tonal disaster. Disjointed. Like Democrats were trying to be everything to everyone and ended up nothing to anyone. Instead of uniting the base, it split the room.They spoke in donor-safe buzzwords and Twitter-slash-GenZ-coded lingo, brat branding and SNL skits. Which is GREAT! Dems needed to stretch their younger-generation wings. But expecting the middle to just nod along? There wasn’t enough rizz on Earth.

Voters didn't hear urgency. They heard elitism. What was meant to feel inclusive came off as exclusive, performative, and out of touch. The majority of the base wanted real talk. What they got was the ick.

And the cost? Millions sat out. Or worse, they crossed over. Americans felt lied to. Dismissed. Taken for a ride. Democratic messaging centered 32% of the base and left the other 68% wondering if they still mattered - and to whom. The Democrats became the party of scolding. Of exclusion. Of "if you don't speak our language, you're not welcome here." This wasn't just a loss at the polls. It was a communications collapse. And if they don't fix the way they speak to the middle of their base without abandoning the progressive margins, they're going to keep losing both.

What We Built

Back in 2020, the work we did as Eleven Films wasn't coming from a political war room. There wasn't a smoky boardroom full of strategists and whiskey coming up with hot ad ideas and sending them through a tube like it was fucking Wolf of Wall Street. No one was getting rich. It was me and James, an extra editor every once in a while and our two cats.

When we met Billy Ray, Gregg Hurwitz, and Marshall Herskovitz, it felt like finding our strike team. Here were three of the most respected directors, writers and union members lending their time to the Democratic Party because they KNEW what was coming if we didn’t avoid the iceberg that would be Trump 2.0. They had the balls and the clout and the talent to say what we at Eleven Films had been screaming into the ether for years. And we had the tools to turn their message into a digital weapon. No polish. No asking permission. No compromise. Just truth aimed straight at the heart of Americans. They were masterful, award winning storytellers with the ability to sway any narrative AND they were just like us. Regular pissed off American parents. I had met my battlefield brothers! My foxhole mates! They got drafted into this messaging war out of duty and American responsibility and understood we were up against a billion dollar Death Star. They knew how to throw messaging molotovs just like Eleven Films did. So we joined forces and started filling the bottles and soaking the rags.

When James got Covid that summer, Gregg, Marshall and Billy were some of the only ones in this industry to call and check on us. They knew he was immunocompromised. They knew a Covid diagnosis in a person like James was a DEFCON1 situation. They graciously offered to get us in touch with specialists and doctors; whatever they could do for my husband, they were going to do. As Marshall put it, he was "OUR James." And Gregg: "If James goes down, we all go down." The man who had carried the editing for this brand - and half the resistance movement - almost entirely on his back, sitting at that desk for 18-20-hour days without so much as a fucking thank you gets Covid and these gents jumped right up and said "We will send the army if you need the fucking army." They were RIGHT there for us. They REALLY cared. I remember being on the phone with Gregg around the same time as the Oregon wildfires were raging. It was smokey for DAYS and we couldn't go outside because the air quality was too dangerous for everyone let alone James. We had to tape the doors shut so the smoke wouldn't come in. We couldn't even let the cats out. We're still in lockdown, my husband is very sick and now none of us can even go outside. Gregg called and simply asked, "How are you, lady?" and I just burst into tears. It had been a very long time since anyone in this business had offered even a shred of humanity and I just lost it. Poor guy. Sorry, Gregg. :)

Marshall, Gregg and Billy offering to help our little Eleven Films ship who had a wounded captain is a rare moment in this war for Democracy that I will never forget. There are not many men in my life that have been good men. Like my ENTIRE life. At the age of 36 when I re-met James, the count was one. Him. And as a woman in the political messaging business, it hasn’t been great. I get dismissed. A LOT. ESPECIALLY as an editor. I can't possibly have a brain AND a billion with a B views, right? I mean I’m just some rando mom, who the fuck do I think I am?

These three NEVER talked down to me. Never told me my questions were stupid and never made fun of any of my opinions or ideas. They were so open and honest and frank. With their work, their art, and their storytelling, all these fucking Unicorns have ever tried to do is the right thing. The moral thing. The ethical thing. The thing that lifts all boats. They're REAL MEN. Upstanding men. I have come to love and trust each of them and every time they talk, I just try and soak it all in. They have seen it all and they KNOW what the fuck they are doing. All of their genuine compassion, authenticity, their love for this country and their ability to listen and translate the American experience through The Party worked in 2020. Democrats won that messaging battle. Because it came from somewhere real. It was straight from the heart. The gut. The soul. The kitchen table. The unpaid bills. The fear in people's eyes when they talked about their healthcare. Their kids' futures. It felt like America because it was America.

What Went Wrong

Democrats got their asses handed to them in 2024. The messaging machine we all worked so hard to build? It fell flat on its fucking face.

James and I always joke that we must have season passes to hell by now because we’ve been there and back so many times as GenXers. As poor kids, were born behind a series of 8 balls. When you have to scrap for every scrap from the time you’re a child through the entire time you HAVE children at home, you learn differently than those insulated in upper crust reality. It’s been so long since there was ANY authenticity on the Hill they wouldn’t even know it until their lack of it gets them voted right out of office.

Top-down messaging fails every time for Democrats. Do you think anyone at the top of the party—and I mean the tippy top—knows what it’s like to have $9 left on their EBT card 10 days before the next month’s benefits are loaded with kids at home? When’s the last time they had to choose between rent and medication? Do they alternate the electric bill and the garbage bill every month because they can’t afford to pay both? Has their spouse ever been injured on the job and is now on disability but the mortgage company doesn’t give a shit? Or have they ever been laid off and the city shut the power off in the middle of winter? Are they solely responsible for their elderly parents’ healthcare? Transportation? Social life?

I’m not saying they don’t give a shit. I’m sure they do. They’re Democrats. Of course they give a shit. But in 2025, they’re not living it. Most of them aren’t sitting in it day after day. That gap between caring and carrying is where the disconnect lives. They don’t always understand what entire lives of poverty, struggle, and marginalization have done to the American psyche in the 21st century. And if they do, they sure the fuck don’t act like it. They don’t understand the anger Americans are feeling because after we put our trust and faith into a party that took in a billion dollars, we still lost to a fascist. And now most of the party appears to be sitting there with their thumbs up their asses while America becomes a literal chop shop.

I DIGRESS.

I can’t say the party didn’t try. I know Eleven Films tried our damndest. No matter how amazing the ad or the sound bite or talking point, Democrats just couldn’t gain traction at the ballot box.

“America already knows it made a mistake. All the Dems have to do now, without their ample distaste for Trump, is advocate for the people who are just beginning to realize what a mistake we just made.” - Billy Ray

What Comes Next

Now that we’re staring down a country in turmoil and there’s no clear direction from the Democratic Party, I’m listening once again to my brothers-in-arms. And they all agree: it all comes down to humility and community.

The future of the Democratic Party is not purity. It’s proximity. The center IS the base. Whether you like it or not. Like Billy said, the best way to fail the people you care about—whether they’re trans, poor, disabled, or undocumented—is to lose the damn election.The only way to protect ALL of us is to INCLUDE all of us. To tell EVERYONE’S story.

“The vast majority of Americans agree on many core values, despite a politics and culture designed to weaponize our differences for power and profit.” - Gregg Hurwitz

Democrats need to hammer home what the party stands for before there is no party left standing. They must tell stories that feel real, not manufactured. They must message from the gymnasiums and town halls, not the fucking faculty lounge. And then STAND ON THAT BUSINESS.

Every ad. Every soundbite. Every time DOGE cuts another program:

“How does this lower the price of eggs?”

“How does this make America safer?”

“How does this help hard-working Americans?”

The Democratic Party must PROVE that they are the party of the working class. They must PROVE they give a shit about the kid trying to afford Community College.

The dad trying to keep the lights on.

The veteran trying to get mental healthcare.

The immigrant trying to open a business.

The grandmother trying to afford her nursing home.

The trans teen who wants to live safely in their own body.

The gun owner who also believes in gun safety.

The BIPOC sons and daughters who are harassed everywhere they go and then begged to save the party with their votes every election.

So far all they’ve proven is they don’t actually listen to us. They listen to their strategists. They don’t actually have our backs. They have their donors’ backs. They don’t actually give a shit about us. They only give a shit about being re-elected.

And now there will be a reckoning.

“We haven’t been asked to make daily sacrifices for our country since WWII. We’ve lost that sense of shared responsibility.” - Marshall Herskovitz

Democracy will not be casual in 2025 and beyond. It will not be a hobby. No one is coming to save us. ACHTUNG: This is a Constitutional crisis.

They’re kidnapping students just like they kidnapped protesters in Portland in 2020. They’re cutting THOUSANDS of jobs. Our current President appears to be a Russian asset, fam. And if the Democratic Party isn’t going to respond, if they’re not going to lead the American People, then the American People WILL respond. And WE will lead THEM.

The People will respond online.

The People will respond in the streets.

The People will knock on doors.

The People will show up to Town Halls.

The People will organize our neighborhoods.

The People will organize our labor.

The People will make space for everyone who wants in.

Even if he’s/she’s/they’re not fluent in pronouns.

Just when it was starting to feel like the party might flatline, Cory Booker stood up and spoke for 25 hours and 5 minutes. Not for a headline. Not for a viral clip. But because the fight still matters. Because the moment still matters. Good Trouble matters. That kind of action? That’s what 2026 could be. A comeback. Not just at the ballot box, but in trust, in tone, in how the party fights for the people it claims to represent. If Democrats keep showing us that — showing up, speaking up, backing it up — we’ll show up too. We haven’t given up. We’re just waiting for a reason to believe again. OUR fire still burns. It’s nice to see theirs does, too.

Everyone on this planet knows the only way you can break America is from within. She ain’t perfect, but damn it she’s OURS. Republicans may have the upper hand in top-down messaging and the digital space, but they don’t have shit on pissed off Americans and our ability to ride at dawn for no other reason than to fuck up a bully’s day. Or to starve a billionaire into financial infancy. From the Flower Power generation to the Alphas, we woke up wishing a motherfucker would.