By Arlette Saenz, CNN
(CNN) — When he steps onto the dais in the House chamber on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump will have another major platform to relay his second term priorities. For Democrats, the moment will present a fresh test of whether they can effectively counter Trump’s primetime programming.
Democratic leadership chose a first-term senator elected in a battleground state Trump won in November to deliver the party’s official response. A Democratic senator whose name is often talked about for 2028 is among those skipping the address, predicting it will be a “MAGA pep rally.” And a protest movement organizing online has identified March 4th – the day of Trump’s speech – as its next day of action.
The varying tactics of Democrats in Washington and across the country will be on display as Trump delivers his address to a joint session of Congress six weeks into a second term where he’s swiftly moved to remake the federal government and implement his foreign policy vision, at times unnerving US allies.
While Democrats have rallied against Elon Musk and DOGE cuts, lawmakers in Washington have struggled to stop the president’s early actions or settle on a cohesive approach to push back on them. It comes amid an ongoing debate within the Democratic party about the best way to handle Trump’s second term and position Democrats for success in the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election – with some saying Democratic leaders aren’t doing enough.
Heading into Tuesday’s speech, Democratic leaders – from Capitol Hill to the Democratic National Committee – are hoping to present a united front. They want to zero in on how Trump’s actions are negatively impacting people and falling short of promises he’s made, including a pledge to lower costs. Democrats also are eager to warn that Republicans could put Medicaid at risk in the upcoming budget fight.
Democratic leadership is turning to Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan to deliver the official rebuttal, a sign of their desire to appeal to working class voters after Democrats lost power in the White House and on Capitol Hill in 2024. After Michigan voters split their tickets sending Trump to the White House and Slotkin to the Senate, the freshman Democrat has emphasized her party needs to focus on kitchen-table issues as they look to rebuild.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Slotkin would use her rebuttal to “communicate that Democrats are fighting to lower the cost of living and protect Social Security and Medicaid while Republicans cut taxes for their billionaire donors and Elon Musk.”
Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York, who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, is set to deliver the official Spanish language response.
Senate and House leadership have encouraged lawmakers to invite individuals who have been affected by Trump’s moves, including job cuts and funding freezes, as guests, Democratic aides said.
“We ask that House Democrats attending the Joint Address bring a guest who has been harmed by the Trump administration’s early actions or will be hurt by the House Republican budget,” the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee told congressional offices in a memo, which was obtained by CNN.
The DNC has also coordinated with the Democratic campaign committees and officials in states across the country to message against Trump and Republicans around the joint address, a party official said.
In an interview with CNN, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who along with Slotkin was the only other freshman Democratic senator to win in a state Trump carried in 2024, said Democrats need to tune out distractions around Trump’s speech and zero in on issues confronting Americans on a daily basis.
“What they really care about is the fact that the price of eggs is so high. It’s hard to get a house. All these things that are really dragging down the everyday Americans trying to just do a little better,” said Gallego, who is planning to take a disabled veteran and federal worker who was recently fired due to Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce as his guest.
But some Democrats may decide boycotting the speech is the best way to approach this moment. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a leading voice in the pushback to Trump, is skipping the joint address and will participate in a counter-programming event with progressive advocacy group MoveOn instead.
“I think every Democrat needs to make up their own mind. I think that State of the Union speech is going to be a farce. I think it’s gonna be a MAGA pep rally,” Murphy said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. “We have to fight every single day, every single day.”
“A lot of Democrats think maybe you should fight every third day, you should reserve your power and jump out of the bushes at the right moment,” he added. “I just think we have to be on the offensive 24/7.”
Another possible 2028 contender planning to play in the Trump pushback on Tuesday – former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who will appear on a live edition of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert following Trump’s speech. And several Democratic governors, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, delivered their own “State of the State” addresses back home in the weeks leading up to Trump’s speech.
The Working Families Party has said Democratic Rep. Lateefah Simon of California will deliver a response on its behalf.
Much of the Democratic messaging efforts will take place on television and social media around the speech, but Democratic lawmakers sitting in the House chamber will also have to decide how to handle Trump’s words on the spot.
While Republicans at times heckled former President Joe Biden during his State of the Union speeches, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who famously ripped up Trump’s speech during his last State of the Union, urged Democrats to exercise caution with the current president.
“Any demonstration of disagreement, whether it’s visual or whatever, just let him stew in his own juice. Don’t be any grist for the mill to say this was inappropriate,” Pelosi said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Outside of Washington, one protest movement is hoping to provide voters with an outlet to channel their frustration. The 50501 movement, which describes itself as a nonpartisan effort, chose the date of Trump’s joint address to Congress as its next rallying point.
Online organizers have encouraged demonstrators to participate in “March 4th for Democracy,” to “raise their voices on this significant occasion, amplifying concerns that impact everyday lives,” a source working with the effort said.
It comes as visible signs of voter discontent with Trump, Musk and the GOP administration have started to bubble up in pockets of the country. Constituents engaged in fiery exchanges with some Republican lawmakers at townhalls when the House was on recess last month, echoing scenes that played out in 2017 during Trump’s first term in office.
“I think anything that gets more people actively doing something in the real world and draws more folks into an oppositional movement against Musk and Trump is healthy,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive organization Indivisible. “Every day, there are new people who were on the sidelines, who have had enough and are now trying to figure out what they could do.”
Recent CNN polling found broad Democratic dissatisfaction with how congressional Democrats have handled their response to Trump so far. Nearly three quarters (73%) of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents that surveyed said the party’s caucus in Congress is doing too little to oppose Trump. 22% said they’re doing the right amount and 5% that they’re overdoing it.
Potential showdowns over a March 14th government shutdown deadline and the Republican push for a major budget bill to enact Trump’s sweeping agenda could emerge for Democrats in the coming weeks.
A leading Democratic super PAC is already planning to step up its attacks over the Trump administration’s policy vision. The House Majority PAC, the leading Democratic super PAC, is rolling out new ads warning of Medicaid cuts and featuring images of tech billionaire Musk wielding a chainsaw rolling out in more than 20 congressional districts next week.
Gallego is planning to hold townhalls in rural parts of his state in the coming weeks to detail how Medicaid cuts would “disproportionately affect” them. The Arizona senator said Democrats need to make “sure we’re taking the fight not just to our normal Democratic areas, but our really Republican strongholds.”
He added, “Everything we need to be doing is make sure to remind people that whatever the president’s doing right now, whatever Elon Musk’s doing now is not making your life any better.”
The-CNN-Wire
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