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Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
Happy Thursday and welcome to the start of March Madness. In today’s edition, we explore how Democrats are dealing with calls at town halls to more forcefully push back against President Donald Trump — and how one lawmaker is stepping into the party’s leadership void. On that note, Jonathan Allen writes that some Democrats are already antsy to get to the presidential primary process started.
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— Adam Wollner
🚨Breaking news: Trump signed an executive order to begin the dismantling of the Education Department. Completely eliminating the department would require the approval of Congress. Read more →
It isn’t just Republicans getting an earful at local town halls in the wake of President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s federal job and spending cuts, Sahil Kapur, Scott Wong, Brennan Leach and Syedah Asghar report.
Democrats, too, this week have faced fired-up crowds who want them to step up their fight against Trump. The anger has intensified since Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., led a group of Democrats to help advance a Republican government funding bill backed by Trump to avert a government shutdown, prompting questions about whether party leaders are up to the task.
The most recent example came Wednesday night just outside Denver, where a town hall attendee tore into Sen. Michel Bennet, D-Colo., for voting to confirm some of Trump’s Cabinet nominees. “The words are great, but I’m really not seeing any action,” the person said.
Toward the beginning of the event — which Bennet held alongside Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo. — attendees shouted for one full minute as Bennet attempted to calm the crowd.
Pressed about whether Schumer should remain Senate Democratic leader, Schumer referred to his call for President Joe Biden to step aside during the 2024 campaign.
“In dodging your question, let me just say it’s important for people to know, you know, when it’s time to go,” Bennet said. “And I think in the case of Joe Biden, and we’re going to have future conversations about all the Democratic leadership.
Key numbers: A recent NBC News poll found that 65% of Democrats want their elected representatives to stick to their positions and hold the line against Trump, while 32% favor compromising with him. That’s a dramatic shift from Trump’s first term: An April 2017 NBC News poll found that 59% of Democrats favored compromising with Trump, while 33% said lawmakers should stick to their positions.
Democrats’ leadership void: As Democrats scramble to find an authentic and effective messenger for the second Trump administration, there is a growing desire to elevate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., within the party in some way, according to interviews with a dozen Democratic lawmakers, aides and strategists.
As Ryan Nobles, Melanie Zanona and Jonathan Allen report, some of the initial skepticism among Democrats about the progressive star when she first arrived in Washington six years ago has started to fade as she has established herself as a political player on Capitol Hill and demonstrated a unique knack for communicating with a younger generation.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif, publicly urged Ocasio-Cortez to launch a Senate primary challenge against Schumer in 2028 if he runs for re-election, and several House Democrats told NBC News that her colleagues also privately pushed her to do so at a party retreat last week.
Starting Thursday, she is taking her message on the road with a fellow progressive heavyweight, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The pair will hold a series of rallies in swing districts and on college campuses in Arizona, Nevada and Colorado that are expected to draw massive crowds, sparking inevitable questions about her considering a run for higher office — perhaps even president.
As for the Republicans: Meanwhile, few GOP lawmakers held town halls this week during the congressional recess after they drew angry and frustrated crowds of their own earlier this year. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, advised members against holding in-person town halls.
One who did, though, Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., faced a torrent of heckles and boos Wednesday night in Laramie, Wyoming, as she tried to downplay concerns about Trump and Musk, Kate Santaliz and Megan Lebowitz report.
“It’s so bizarre to me how obsessed you are with federal government,” Hageman said, adding that the attendees’ “hysteria is just really over the top.”
Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, can’t wait for the 2028 presidential primaries to get underway.
“They all need to declare sooner than later,” Fried said of the prospective White House hopefuls. “They need to get out there. They need to sharpen their knives. They need to excite the base. They need to be able to stand up against what is happening in Washington, D.C.”
Fried said that the energy from campaign events would siphon media attention from President Donald Trump and that she wouldn’t be opposed to the party’s picking its nominee early and all at once.
“Why not just run and vote in November ’26?” she said. “Forget all of this ‘Iowa has to go first’ or North Carolina or South Carolina. F— all that. Let’s go!”
Fried isn’t alone in feeling added urgency in the early months of Trump’s term, according to several Democratic officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss party strategy. Nor, these officials said, is she the only one who wants to hold primaries and caucuses before the traditional start at the beginning of the election year.
But it’s too early to begin making decisions about the calendar, three of the officials said. So early, one Democratic National Committee adviser said, that it’s “not generally on the radar of the leadership of the DNC” yet. And even if the party wanted to change its primary dates, state laws could prevent official contests from taking place before 2028.
At the same time, new DNC Chair Ken Martin wants to bring back a form of Democrats’ long-abandoned midterm convention in 2026, the DNC adviser said. The party wouldn’t pick its nominee at that time, but it would hold a high-profile conference.
In small ways, the shadow primary has already begun, with prominent Democrats holding campaign-style rallies, using their elected offices to oppose Trump and, in the case of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, hosting a politics-focused podcast.
“Everybody’s playing this tiptoeing game. [People] know you’re all running — just go,” Fried said. “The base wants to know who is our next leader, when can we get out of this funk and start moving on to the next chapter.”
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Faith Wardwell.
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