Rise of the “Bernie Dogs”

Donald Trump advised Americans to vote as if he was on the ballot, and so they did. But Tuesday’s election was about more than rebuking the president. Voters also delivered a blow to the billionaire class and the megadonors who poured record sums into the midterms to lift Republican candidates out of a deep political hole. 

Nowhere was this more evident than in Texas, where Elon Musk spent over $200 million in support of Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton and incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa ran as economic populists laser‑focused on affordability and on holding to account the billionaires and corporate donors trying to buy elections. By pouring hundreds of millions into the election, Musk only proved their point. In the closing weeks of the campaign, the two candidates joined together to blast their Republican opponents for selling out the state and country to billionaires like Musk. “We must get big money out of our politics so no billionaire or trillionaire can buy our elections,” said Talarico. “We must unrig this economic system that only benefits the top 1%.”

In the end, Talarico defeated Paxton decisively by over 10 points, becoming the first Texas Democrat elected to the Senate in over three decades. Hinojosa also prevailed against the three-term incumbent governor and became the state’s first Democratic governor since Ann Richards was elected in 1990. A similar story played out across much of the country, with Democratic candidates running on an economic populist message that centered as much on tech oligarchs as it did on Trump and the GOP’s horrendous record. 

This messaging was broadly adopted by candidates across the party’s various factions. One of the more interesting developments in this year’s election was the emergence of a group of candidates who received endorsements from both Sen. Bernie Sanders and the leadership of the centrist Blue Dog coalition. Dubbed the “Bernie dogs,” these candidates — Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin, Sam Forstag in Montana and Brian Poindexter in Ohio — all came from blue-collar backgrounds and ran as working-class populists in districts that Trump won in 2024. On Tuesday, all four of them cruised to victory, building on the Democrats’ historic majority. 

The unifying message for Democratic candidates in blue, red and purple states alike was that the GOP had become the party of, by and for the billionaire class. The more cash that billionaires and corporate PACs poured into races to bail out Republicans, the more this message seemed to resonate with voters. 

Democrats now have a clear roadmap for how to win in 2028 and beyond, but first they will have to start putting their populist rhetoric into practice. American voters just handed them their biggest congressional majority in decades and they should wield their new power accordingly. That means using new oversight and subpoena powers to hold Trump, his officials and the billionaire oligarchs who have undermined American democracy to account. But, with decisive majorities in both chambers, it also means uniting behind a bold legislative agenda to make good on populist promises. Leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have already started outlining such a plan, setting an ambitious goal of passing new legislation every week and daring the president to veto bills targeted at lowering prices and reining in corruption. 

“We have won immense amounts of political power, and now is the most important time to deliver to keep that power,” said Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, a vice chair of the caucus. “The way we’re going to keep Democrats in office is by passing bold pieces of legislation that show you when you vote Democrats in office, your life will get better.”

“I hope Trump signs laws to ban stock trading and take on corporate price-gouging,” said Texas congressman and CPC Chair Greg Casar. “But if he vetoes them, that should be what we run on.”