Voters often think all politicians, from both parties, are corrupt. But this year, Democrats believe things may be different.
“People do not feel good about the economy,” said Scott Colom, a district attorney in Northeast Mississippi and Democrats’ Senate nominee in the state. “That’s why the corruption [matters to voters]. When you’re struggling, and you feel it, you pay attention to the fact that somebody is actually making money.”
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Voters’ feelings that politicians are corrupt have grown more prevalent in recent years. Nearly 90 percent of U.S. adults said corruption was widespread in government, according to a Gallup poll released this month, a 10-point jump from last year.
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The focus has been particularly pronounced in Senate races, where French’s group has advised political operatives nationwide to “amplify” their focus on corruption by tying it to rising costs.
In a strategy memo sent to operatives this week, and shared first with this newsletter, the super PAC reports that its research shows voters believe “corruption is a problem that personally raises their own costs, and the top reason by far is that it drives up the price of everyday goods: gas, groceries, utilities, housing.” The group advises candidates to keep costs front and center while focused on corruption, but suggests labeling Republicans as “corrupt politicians” while linking their opponents to what voters view as Trump’s own self-dealing.
The group has put this strategy behind the tens of millions they plan to spend on ads this cycle.
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Defend the Vote, a progressive PAC focused on protecting voting access, has driven much of this messaging. The group began briefing top Democrats in Washington and candidates in competitive House races last year on why they should prioritize a message linking affordability to corruption. But the focus has only increased in recent weeks, said Adam Bozzi, a Democratic operative and Defend the Vote adviser.
“It’s unavoidable,” Bozzi said, observing how this idea they began pushing last year is now in ads and talking points nationwide. “People are fed up, they have had enough and they don’t trust the system.”
Bozzi acknowledged that negative views about politicians are always “baked into” voters’ minds, but suggested that Trump’s impact on how Americans view corruption has “seeped out” beyond political circles and people “are so fed up.”
“If people weren’t suffering right now, corruption feels harmless, but people are seeing their own situation getting worse, and they are connecting the dots on their own,” Bozzi said.
This messaging has also linked disparate factions of the Democratic Party, too.
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House leader from New York and likely next House Speaker if the party takes back the chamber this year, recently told the Associated Press that there is a “cost to the American people of the out-of-control corruption.”
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Meanwhile, Rahm Emanuel, the moderate former Chicago mayor considering a presidential bid in 2028, told Semafor in June that “corruption as part of the affordability narrative is more chess, where affordability alone is more checkers.” Earlier this year, a memo by progressive Sens. Chris Murphy, Adam Schiff, Tina Smith and Elizabeth Warren pushed Democrats to link the need to unrig the system by fighting corruption.
Read more in the Washington Post