Moderate Democrats envision path to a cooler political climate

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, Democrats anxious to return their party’s focus to the middle believe a message of cross-party collaboration—and a focus on policy—may help lower the temperature of the country’s political discourse.

Kirk, 31, led one of the country’s foremost youth-centered political organizations, Turning Point USA—a group closely aligned with Trump administration policies. Kirk was shot and killed last Wednesday at an outdoor debating event on the campus of Utah Valley University.

Just hours before Kirk was shot, Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., urged his Democrat colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to rally around policy-first messaging. Schneider, who chairs the moderate-minded New Democrat Coalition, believes focusing on national issues like cost of living, public safety, and national security can offer a middle ground to lawmakers and voters alike. In recent weeks, the caucus has pressed for policy platforms promoting border security measures and a strategy to promote affordable housing.

After Kirk’s shooting, I asked Schneider if he believes the tragedy will prompt moderates to more aggressively try to bring the parties together.

“Gosh, I sure hope so,” Schneider said. “I think our role is more important than ever, but we will continue to do what we’ve always done. New Dems have been the ones to work across our caucus and look across the aisle to find folks who will engage with us, work with us, find common ground, and develop policy ideas.”

Groups like these have often taken a backseat to mainline party priorities. But Schneider and other Democrats believe there’s a unique moment now to push for moderate positions. In their view, concerns over political extremism have opened the door for a reshaping of the Democratic platform on Capitol Hill. Democrats in recent months have struggled to present voters with a cohesive brand in the wake of the 2024 election, when they lost control of the White House and Senate and failed to capture the House.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., said bipartisan groups have “a very important role to play” in closing political divides on Capitol Hill. “People have got to show leadership—that we can disagree with each other without holding each other in contempt,” he said.

Suozzi is co-chair for the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group that focuses on collaboration between parties.

“Fifty members of Congress; pretty evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans,” Suozzi said. “We’re trying.”

Schneider’s group—the New Dems, as they’re often called on the Hill—pride themselves on a policy-first approach with broad cross-party appeal. Schneider believes that the group’s growth shows that the Democratic Party has already been moving to the center for some time.

The group has 116 members, accounting for over half the Democrats in the House of Representatives.

“When I came to Congress in 2013, there were 42 New Dems,” Schneider said. “That [growth] shows the center of gravity within the caucus has moved to the middle. I’d like to interpret that as a reflection that most Americans want people to find common ground.”

On a topic like the border, New Dems have proposed adopting messaging that more readily reflects public demands. At a news conference last week, Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-N.M., laid out a list of practical stances the group could take. He is the chair for the New Dems working group on immigration and border security.

Vasquez identified dismantling cartels, disrupting smuggling, and deporting violent offenders as some of the immigration priorities the caucus could support. He also recommended the caucus promote ensuring the Department of Homeland Security holds to high standards and provides humane detention conditions, establishing legal pathways for immigrant workers in critical fields like healthcare and agriculture, and ensuring workforce visa programs protect American workers and wages.

“We can maintain secure borders, grow our economy, and treat people humanely,” Vasquez said.

With emerging figures like Zohran Mamdani—a self-proclaimed democratic socialist candidate who secured the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor in July—some of the party’s most visible momentum in recent months has lurched further left. That’s prompted some concern that the success of a more liberal brand will hurt Democrats in moderate areas of the country. On Capitol Hill, most Democrats have focused on combating Trump administration positions while struggling to articulate stances of their own.

Given the growth and size of the New Dems, could the group become a potential tone-setter for the party’s aims nationally? I asked Schneider whether House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has been receptive to its policy ideas.

“I think he’s very receptive. We’ve talked about it. Not just Jeffries—our whip, Katherine Clark, our caucus Chair Pete Aguilar; Pete is a New Dem Member,” Schneider said, referring to other members of the party’s leadership.

Last week, the group added another member—newly elected Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., who won a special election last Tuesday to fill the seat of former Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.

“We’re constantly looking for candidates who are going to work with us, help us expand our abilities, our capacities to reach towards our agenda. So, we’re talking to candidates all across the country,” Schneider said.

Despite the growth of the New Dems and groups like it, Suozzi, the Democrat from New York, noted that moderates often find themselves drowned out by stronger, more partisan voices. In the wake of Kirk’s death, Suozzi worried that some of the loudest voices have often drawn the largest crowds.

“The problem is that the traditional media and social media really has always relied on ‘If it bleeds, it leads’—and social media rewards extremism. And podcasts are really often centered either right or left,” Suozzi said. “It’s not easy to get the attention.”

But Schneider believes that overcoming political sensationalism is a matter of patience and persistence. “We need to talk to everybody. We need to listen to everybody,” he said. “We need to engage in the conversation. One interview at a time.”