In this time of deep political divisions, Americans of all political stripes have found something to unite them.
Everybody hates the Democratic Party. Especially Democrats.
“They hate us. They hate us.”
That’s how a senior Democrat member of Congress described the message from a town hall with Democratic constituents in an on-background conversation reported by Axios.
“Another thing I got was, ‘Democrats are too nice. Nice and civility doesn’t work. Are you prepared for violence?'”
Closer to home, Democrats who came to Rep. Maggie Goodlander’s town hall in Concord last week had a similar message.
“We need to see… the Democrats in Congress, exhibit some raw anger,” one woman in the audience told Goodlander. “While we’re out here screaming into the void, we need to hear Congress screaming into the void as well.”
Another Democrat, Roland DuBois of Contoocook, pleaded with Goodlander to “lead us in demonstrations in the street.”
But it was Chris O’Connor of Concord who caught the mood of the crowd.
After asking Goodlander if she was willing to participate in boycotts of pro-Trump businesses, or even get arrested for the anti-Trump cause, O’Connor turned on her.
“When you said the Democrats have been dealt a bad hand, that means you are part of the problem,” he told Goodlander. “Because Democrats have not been dealt a bad hand. Nine years ago, when Barack Obama was elected, we controlled the presidency, the Senate and the (House). Only the establishment’s unbelievable incompetence and out-of-touch nonsense has led us to this point.
“So if you think that somebody else is responsible for where we are right now, you’re wrong,” O’Connor said.
Members of the crowd also called out New Hampshire’s (allegedly) beloved senior senator, Jeanne Shaheen, for caving on the GOP’s continuing resolution.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the top Senate Democrat, is at the bottom of the polls — the only party leader in Congress underwater with his own party’s members.
The Democratic base sees its party the way Douglas C. Neidermeyer saw the ROTC freshmen at Faber College: “You’re all worthless and weak!”
As a result, the Democratic Party brand is tanking. It’s less popular than it’s ever been in the modern polling era, below 30 percent approval in multiple polls.
In New Hampshire, 91 percent of Republicans are happy with the direction of the GOP. But just 29 percent of Democrats say the same.
For a long time, Democrats were happy to brand Republicans as the party of hate, while they portrayed themselves as the party that protects norms and promotes reasonable accommodation.
Republicans disagree, obviously, pointing to the Obama administration’s targeting of the Tea Party, MAGA supporters chased out of public spaces during Trump’s first term, and the nonstop accusations of “fascism” directed at Republicans by President Joe Biden and his supporters.
But even if the Democratic Party had spent the past decade as the “Rainbow, Unicorns and Puppies Coalition,” those days are over. Democrats are ready to rumble — starting with each other.
Will that rumble come to the Granite State?
Sure Democrats are angry at Shaheen and her colleague, Sen. Maggie Hassan, for doing Schumer’s bidding on the continuing resolution (CR). But Shaheen’s bowing out and Hassan’s not up again until 2028.
Goodlander and Rep. Chris Pappas both voted against the CR and for a shutdown. But they are also both establishment Democrats who, as Goodlander showed at the town hall, aren’t going to be passing out pitchforks and torches any time soon. They’re the sort of Democrats who brag about “reaching across the aisle” and being willing “to work with anyone” — phrases that used to be common mantras among Democrats.
Those days are over.
But while a majority of Democrats eight years ago said they wanted their party to work with Republicans to build consensus, those numbers have completely flipped. Now 65 percent of Democrats say they want their members of Congress to fight, even if it means not getting things done.
Who will give voice to the frustration of the Democratic base? Who will engage the anger in the base of the party and turn it into political action?
Or, as Greg Moore at Americans for Prosperity, a longtime observer of New Hampshire politics puts it, where is the Carol Shea-Porter of 2026?
“All of the energy in the Democratic Party comes from the progressive wing. This is reminiscent of 2006, when we saw candidates like Carol Shea-Porter, with no money, no institutional support and little recognition outside of her base, take down establishment stalwarts in a primary. If a traditional Democrat is looking at jumping into a higher office, they better try to figure out how to join the peasants with pitchforks.
Will an unknown activist emerge as a Democratic dragon slayer? Or will the same Democratic leadership that gave voters Dan Feltes and Joyce Craig — not to mention another two years of Ray Buckley — keep the political pillow over the faces of progressive candidates as they’ve done in the past?
They may not be able to. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are drawing huge crowds to arenas, while angry progressives are setting Teslas on fire in the streets.
A smart, well-led party would be looking for candidates who can tap into these heated passions without getting burned by them.
Then again, there’s this headline: “Hapless anti-Musk activist sets himself on fire after attacking Tesla charging station with Molotov cocktails.”
Somebody grab the marshmallows.
