Rep. Ro Khanna’s side had won. The California Democrat’s effort with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) to force a Housevote on the release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was about to succeed as hedelivered a message yesterday that served as a victory lap and a framework for Democrats’ political messaging in the coming months.
“Today is the first real reckoning for the Epstein class,” Khanna said, before calling the effort to obscure Epstein’s crimes “one of the most … disgusting corruption scandals in our country’s history.” He later told us that being “America first,” parroting the messaging that elevated Trump’s political career, meant “holding the Epstein class accountable” and “lowering costs” to make “people’s lives better.”
It was an intentional choice of words that reflects a political lesson Democrats have learned over the past few months: While the most pressing issue on the minds of almost all voters is costs, there is a straightforward way to tie cost concerns to another top issue: corruption.
One group in particular, Defend the Vote, a progressive PAC focused on protecting voting access, is central in urging Democrats to run on both issues.
“This broken system is impacting everyday Americans,” said Brian Lemek, founder of the group. “We want them to be focused on the corruption piece because we know it’s a winning issue when you marry it with high costs.”
Lemek’s group has begun briefing top Democrats in Washington and candidates in competitive House campaigns on why they should prioritize a message linking affordability to corruption, calling it the Cost of Corruption. Backed by research and polling, their briefing urges candidates to argue that corruption in Washington, particularly within the Trump administration, has diverted the president’s focus from prices.
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Christina Bohannan, a former Iowa state representative who lost her 2024 campaign to Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks by fewer than 1,000 votes, clearly got that message.
“They’re seeing how that corruption is causing representatives like Miller-Meeks to favor the billionaires and her corporate donors over people here in the district and trying to bring down the cost of living, which is just way too high,” Bohannan told us, repeatedly responding to questions about affordability by turning back to Miller-Meeks, against whom she ran in 2022 and 2024.
On Epstein, Bohannan said keeping the files obscured meant “putting the wealthy and the well-connected over regular people” and that that “does not go over well with good, honest, hardworking people like the people in my district.”
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This affordability-corruption focus from Democrats reflects lessons Democrats drew from their sweeping wins in Virginia, New Jersey and New York this month, where candidates’ focus on costs was seen as a key differentiator in each race.
To build on those successes, Democrats such as Rep. Joseph Morelle (New York) think the party’s candidates should look to win over voters, some of whom may have supported Trump in past elections, by using an argument that the president used during his political rise: The system is broken and not working for you.
“Many people … put their faith in Donald Trump,” Morelle said. “They thought … he wants to break it all apart because he wants to save America from its awful, corrupt government. Well, it turns out he really just wanted to employ it for his own means. Forget about draining the swamp. He bought the swamp. He’s expanding the swamp. He’s adding a second level. And I think a parking garage.” A White House spokesperson did not respond to our request for comment.
Read the full pience in the Washington Post