Rebuilding the Democratic Party Begins and Ends With Reform

The “Trump-Musk sledgehammer”  is possible because the country has lost trust in institutions’ ability to deliver. Democrats have to get back to basics to rebuild that trust. / Photograph by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Democrats lost last year because, broadly speaking, our base did not show up and we did not pull in enough independents. Now our national party has a leadership vacuum, and most people aren’t sure what to do next.

Yes, we must stand up and resist Donald Trump. But resisting is not enough — we must do the work to present a meaningful alternative.

The battle against the Trump-Musk sledgehammer is critical. Trump and Musk are both experts at breaking things. What they will fail to do is build anything that helps anyone except their wealthy friends, with 13 billionaires already serving in the wealthiest administration in history at a net worth of $400 billion.

But here’s the catch for Democrats: Even before the 2024 election, only 16 percent of Americans said they trusted the federal government. That is no surprise, after decades of government institutions failing regular people: The 2008 financial meltdown and bailouts, industrial decline met with “learn to code,” the invasion of Iraq, conflicting COVID messaging, and Hurricane Katrina, to name a few.

Trump and Musk are only able to wreak so much havoc and destruction because the country has lost trust in institutions’ ability to deliver. To rebuild that trust, Democrats have to get back to basics and stop reflexively defending status quo institutions.

DOGE — Musk’s quasi-government entity — is only possible because of the broad mistrust in the bureaucracy. That’s why, when we are talking about DOGE’s extreme excesses, we have to at the same time own the mantle of reform to be the party of delivering on big, transformative policies.

Here is an example of what that could look like.

When we Democrats talk about how Trump and Musk are cutting Federal Aviation Administration staff during a time of increasing aviation incidents or firing bird flu response officials at a time when egg prices are rising, calling out the insanity is only step one. In the same breath, we should call for the first civil service reform act since 1978 to overhaul government to build a federal workforce that can deliver on our priorities in a swift, effective way.

No longer can we spend our political capital passing infrastructure bills and then assuming our bureaucracy would do the rest. President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure law in 2021, but by December 2024 only 37 EV charging stations had been built.

When Democrats have demanded reform and accountability we have won every time. Bill Clinton campaigned on streamlining government. Barack Obama ran on lobbying reform and taking on elite corporate spinsters in the media. This reform spirt builds trust, brings working-class voters solidly into our camp, and then gives us the leverage to use that trust quotient to deliver on our biggest priorities. The public has to know that they are voting for a government that will not just pass bills but will be a partner in changing their communities for the better.

So right now, today, with Democrats in the minority in the U.S. House, Senate, and at the Supreme Court, how can we demonstrate that it’s us Democrats who can deliver for regular people?

The responsibility falls to us in Democratic-controlled states and cities to prove we are not too bureaucratic and bloated to deliver tangible economic policy wins that working families see and feel: an ambitious housing program, community-based healthcare, and reversing downward educational outcomes.

And we especially have to invest in our forgotten communities and neglected neighborhoods across the state and city, offering investment and opportunity.

I represent one such forgotten community in Northeast Philadelphia. I ran for office because my neighborhood wasn’t getting the leadership or investment it deserved and had fallen into disrepair physically and psychologically. We are revitalizing our business corridors, cleaning up and greening up our blocks, opportunity is going up, and crime is going down.

Democrats must begin this reform work now, delivering right here in Philadelphia, and across Pennsylvania in the cities and counties where we are in leadership.

We must resist the Trump and Musk agenda of destruction with all our strength. But let’s just as vigorously work to reconstruct our party with the purpose of delivering the government reforms that allow us to deliver for all Americans.