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More Rahm Than Right

As Trump’s grip weakens, Democrats are recruiting candidates straight from the Rahm Emanuel 2006 playbook: military vets, small-business owners, health care workers, etcetera. Career politicians and Biden insiders need not apply.

Rahm Emanuel
An ideal archetype is emerging, straight out of the Rahm Emanuel 2006 playbook: military veterans. But there are also small business leaders, and healthcare workers—Democratic but not overtly progressive, more Pat Ryan than Rashida Tlaib. Photo: ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Abby Livingston
June 2, 2025

In retrospect, April 2 was the unofficial kickoff of the Democratic midterm recruiting season. Before Liberation Day, the party was in shambles, still reeling and deeply demoralized from their November defeat—and, naturally, facing a furious donor class. But as markets recoiled from Trump’s global trade war, and his approval ratings began to tumble, potential Democratic candidates sensed an opening. “That was the first big crack in the facade,” a strategist involved in midterm recruiting told me.