'The Economy Is In The Trash'—Do Democrats Have The Winning Pitch To Fix It?

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1:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me once again is Chantel Plummer. She's a partner at Tusk Strategies. Chantel, thanks so much for coming back on. Thank you for having me. We are just four days away from the midterms, if you can believe it. And I want to talk about what the polls are showing us right now, this close to election day. Apparently, around two thirds of the country, just close to two thirds of the country, think that America is headed in the wrong direction. President Trump's approval rating is underwater. And an Emerson College poll out today shows that Democrats have a 10 point lead over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot.

1:41Democrats also have history on their side when it comes to these midterms. Usually, these elections are a referendum on the party in power. And as we know, the GOP controls both chambers of Congress as well as the White House. So as we sit here right now, what are you thinking in this moment? I'm thinking that I think the midterms are going to be kind of what we expect it to be. You know, we're a couple days out and what we're seeing is massive spending, low like consumer sentiment about how the economy is going and people just really focusing on like the kitchen issues you know that are thinking about gas they're thinking about the utility bills and if you look at the current state yes you know the stock market is doing well and it's not crumbling but everyday costs are getting higher and higher and people are feeling uncomfortable right now economically.

2:34So I think this is going to be a referendum. You're seeing a lot of enthusiasm by voters. You're seeing a lot of engagement. As we were just talking about, we're getting bombarded by ads. And it's just showing the feel right now is like this election is going to be a referendum. I know we were talking and I feel like this election more than any other one, even presidential elections, I'm getting text after text after text from multiple both states. And I'm curious what you think about the Democrats strategy, because you and I have talked time and time again, two years ago in 2024, voters were not happy about the economy.

3:13Democrats said it's not that bad. Obviously not the winning message. Now it's 2026. Republicans are saying the same thing because people still don't feel good about the economy. Do you think Democrats are doing a good job at pitching themselves as being the party who can fix it? So they actually are right now. You know, I have been very critical of the Democratic Party because I feel that, you know, two years ago, it was like the economy is not that bad, but people felt it. Well, if two years the economy was bad, right now the economy is in the trash. And I think for once, they're capitalizing on how people feel.

3:48They're not getting into the cultural wars. They're talking about everyday things. They're talking about their neighbors having health care. You know, in Texas, James Tolerico, he, a Democrat, he's not getting into, oh, I'm trying to make Texas blue. He's like, I want to make Texas purple because I want to, I care about the everyday things. I want to help all Texans. And they're really focusing on not culture wars, which they usually do. And that's where they lose some of, that's where they have lost, I would say, under Donald Trump, their traditional voters. And now they're focusing on the things that Republicans have done such a great job under Trump basically highlighting, which is pocketbook issues.

4:29You know, when we were last talking about the presidential election, everyone was talking about the price of gas and the price of eggs. Well, the price of gas is like$4. And like, I think on average, it's$4.71. That's a lot of money. So I think the Democrats are really doing a good job of leaning on economic messaging. I've noticed that especially with more progressive candidates, more progressive lawmakers, DSA members or candidates who are backed by the DSA. Some of them, when they're asked about the DSA or more progressive issues, they immediately pivot to the economy. They say, well, we're focused on the economy and they make that pivot and they don't even go there or engage and they totally change the conversation.

5:09And it seems like Democrats, you and I have talked about this before in 2024, they were lost in the wilderness a bit after 2024. Where do we go from here? What's our identity? Now it's two years later. You're seeing some DSA or DSA backed candidates winning. They won their primaries. They're ahead in the polls. You're seeing other more moderate candidates in other states. I'm thinking of Adam Hamilton, who's the Democratic candidate for the Senate in Kansas. And one of his ads, he doesn't even mention once the word Democrat. He says things that he's right down the middle. Do you think Democrats have found their identity yet?

5:45Or do you think it varies state by state? Do you think they found that path forward?

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6:41doing. Whatever you want to make, it's possible. So what will you canva today? I think they are on their way. I never want to give the Democrats too much credit because sometimes they get it right and then they pivot back to the culture wars. But right now, you'll see even what many would consider like their left-wing fringe members of the Democratic Party are coming in the middle and talking about the things that you want to hear. I saw an ad about the candidate in Michigan, and he's, you know, fringe, and there's a lot of things that are being said about him negatively, but he's not even, the noise is not even affecting him.

7:20He's talking about health care and the importance of how many Americans are about to lose their health care in January, plus the Americans who've already lost their health care. That's the stuff because everyone can relate to a grandparent, a friend, or somebody who was, who did have health care and now has to pay these astronomical costs for something everyone should have, which should be a basic, you know, standard of living. I want to talk about where the money's going and the big races where there's a lot of spending. We're seeing a lot of spending in the Texas Senate race with James Tallarico.

7:54Astronomical spending. Astronomical. Yes. I mean, barriers at this point. Yes, history making spending, record shattering spending there. And we've seen in other Texas races. I'm looking at you, Beto O 'Rourke. I'm looking at you, Colin Allred. There's so much hype around the Texas Senate race. Can the Democrat win? They haven't in around three decades. Now, according to recent polling, Tallarico is a few points ahead based on what poll you look at. He's a few points ahead of the Republican Ken Paxton. What do you make of that race? Do you think that that's a good race for Democrats to be spending their money on?

8:31Absolutely. First of all, we have to remember Kim Paxson won, but barely won his primary. And, you know, the Republican primary was kind of mirrored with different issues. So, OK, we have this Republican candidate that's liked, but like not beloved. The Democratic primary was messy, too, between St. Hilariko and Jasmine Crockett. But Tallarica right now, the difference, I think, in comparison to other years, he's winning a lot of the independents. All roads to many controversial states lead to independent voters. Because, you know, most Democrats will vote Democratic. Most Republicans will vote Republican.

9:08How the independent vote splits usually determines who's successful. And I saw something, there was a poll that said like 50, I want to say like 53 or 54 % of independents are leaning towards Tallarico, which means he is getting, he's getting a huge bump from the independents. Not to mention some Republicans are defecting from the Republican Party and voting for Tallarico based off his messaging. He's fundraised an enormous amount of money. And what I also like about him, it's just the populist appeal. He has a lot of low dollar funders, which shows enthusiasm versus Ken Paxton, who has more corporate dark money, which usually means it's like you're like against the wall financially and you need someone to help you to spread the message.

9:56It'll be interesting for once. I think Tallarico has a really good shot at winning this seat and Texas may turn blue, but he would say purple. And I think something that Tallarico has been saying from the beginning is that, hey, it's not a left versus right fight. It's a top fight versus bottom. And we're fighting big corporations. We're fighting big money. We're fighting this elite class, the common everyday American. That's what the fight is. And I'm curious because, like you said, he's siphoning off some Republicans because you're seeing vote splitting in that race between the governor's race.

10:32He's also garnering a lot of support from independents. And I was speaking to an independent expert, and they said a common misconception that people have is that independents are more moderate and that once you get the independent vote, you can keep it for the next election. And he was saying that couldn't be further from the truth. So how do you think Democrats, you're seeing in a lot of different races here, this election cycle, them winning when it comes to independents. How do you think Democrats could keep them for 2028? I think if they continue the campaigns they're running, finding candidates that are on message, I think once they win power, whether they win the House or let's say they win some seats in the Senate, how they govern will be very important.

11:17The president, unfortunately, I think for many Americans, hasn't shown stability. So right now, people want to see stability and people trying to make a difference in their day-to-day lives. So I think if the Democrats, to show, keep it focused some pocketbook issues, show, you know, normalcy, get out of the cultural wars, but really focus on the economy. Because I think it was Bill Clinton, it's the economy, stupid. Like, that's what everybody cares about. Everyone cares about their bottom line. So if everyone, if the Democrats particularly can just stay and show consistency and show stability for the independents, I think keeping them in the 2028, keeping them in the 2028 presidential election and overall election will help them and help Democrats just be better in terms of power.

12:06I know that people don't really like making predictions ahead of an election because anything can happen on election night. Anything can happen. It's Halloween, so there might be a big election scandal that happens in some of these races. And we still have room for an October surprise. I mean, October's not over yet. I think we have to remember that too. Yeah, exactly. So I'm curious, do you think that the Democrats will regain and flip the House and the Senate? And what races are you looking out for? I think the Democrats will win the House. I definitely think they'll win the House. The Senate, even though they have to, I think it's three seats, they have to win to have a total majority.

12:51The Senate always seems a little bit more difficult for me in comparison to the House. And these races are tight. These races are tight. These races are tight. I think the house will be indicative of future races. I'm really, first of all, I'm from New York. So NY17 is like battleground nation with Mike Lawler and Kat Coonley. And then I am also looking at Tallarico. I think both races are bellwether for different reasons. I think in New York, Westchester is a bellwether for like the suburbs. Usually Westchester County, which is where the NY17 has parts of, is a bellwether for like how it's going to be throughout the country.

13:36So I think, you know, Mike Lawler was beloved in this county. And now he's for the first time in a long time, he's like his back is against the wall, the Republican, by this new Democratic challenger. I'll be interested to see how that race goes. And I think Texas and the Tallarico race will just be showing us like how like real people are voting. Because if you can win Texas, a state that has traditionally been read for years, then it's showing us that, wait a minute, A, the Republicans are in trouble for the presidential. B, people are really, really not happy with the way things are going. And C, it's like, it's the economy.

14:18And what can Democrats do to improve the economy and people's way of living? I'm kind of interested in seeing, you know, there's a lot of fringe lefty candidates that are surging. I'm interested to see how they end up. You know, I just want to know, will they win the populist vote? Or will it just be like, they were for this time period, you know, they were popular, but they couldn't take it to the next level. Because that's going to be something that we all have to think about too. If the Democrats are successful and win all these seats, how will they as a party deal with the wide breadth of different types of people that they have within their party?

14:56And how will they govern? I think that's a really interesting point because some people have been DSA members themselves. Some people have been welcoming of DSA candidates. Other Democrats have said, you know what, I don't really like the word socialism or socialist attached to my party. I think that's an albatross on it. Do you think, let's say, the DSA candidates, some of them win on Tuesday. Do you think that will show anything? Will that be indicative of anything for 2028? Do you think that when, you know, everything shakes out, if we see more moderate candidates win and if we see more DSA candidates win as well, that will show Democrats the path forward or the best path forward for the next two years?

15:41Yes. I think if you see a wide range of Democrats winning, both like, you know, the moderate Democrats and then your left fringe and they're all winning in this time period, I think it will show Democrats economy is the way to go. Bread and butter is the way to go. And that's how you get, you know, not the suburban elites that you usually, you know, run after, but the common day, you know, blue collar workers, immigrants, and those other people that have felt left behind by the Democratic Party. So hopefully, if they're successful on Tuesday, I think they'll have a meeting of their minds and they'll find ways to continue this messaging, give the fringe some wins when they can, but just realize that the global good of ultimate power in the 2020 elections needs a united Democratic conference all on the same page, speaking the same talking points.

16:36Nobody wants, I think, I think it's safe to say for the Republicans, the Republicans have had a honeymoon under Trump. You know, Trump is that guy that brings votes out no matter what. Democrats don't have that special sauce candidate yet on a presidential or top level. Some would say like, you know, Hakeem is good, but nothing, you know, captivating the way Donald Trump is. So if you don't have a captivating leader, you need to have a captivating message. So I hope this is the election that the Democrats learned their message. And hopefully that will lead to someone who can take the reins and be successful for the 28th presidential.

17:13I think that's a really good point because videos that I'm getting served the most when it comes to political videos on the Democratic side have been videos of Obama making campaign speeches. and his comments on the Cheesecake Factory and people commenting on just how much charisma he has. He was a two-term president a decade ago. What does that show about the Democratic Party? It shows that we don't have anyone. We haven't had or we have not found that person to take the realms since Obama. Since he's left, we've been in like this world where we're trying all these different candidates and we're trying all these different things.

17:53We're trying women candidates, women of color candidates. We're trying older men that show stability. We're trying all these things. But we, in this past decade, haven't had the candidate that draws peoples to the poll in a way that Obama did. Like, Obama's election was transformative. Everyone came out to vote for that election. And for many, Donald Trump is the equivalent to that in the Republican Party. Now we're seeing him, you know, polling miserably right now. So I do think if there are a whole bunch of losses, that will be like a time of truth for the Republican Party. But like they've had the ease of winning elections because they've had this charismatic leader.

18:34It's going to be interesting. But I'm hoping this election they learn and the Democrats find someone or a Democrat is smart enough to pick up on the things that are needed to be charismatic and win. There are good people, Wes Moore, Pete Buttigieg, but they haven't had the juice of a Trump or Obama. Well, we will certainly be looking out for all of that, the midterms, the results there, what's coming next for 2028. And I hope you can join me for plenty more conversations. Chantel Plummer, always a pleasure. Thanks for coming on.

19:08Shontell Plummer: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

19:26Shontell Plummer: The Secret Society of Semi-Homemade. Listen up. Sam's Club has pre-made dishes for a Thanksgiving feast that's ready in two hours, all while tasting suspiciously homemade. Come join us. Sam's Club. Individual oven times may vary.