Democratic candidates discreetly urge allies not to trash Trump or alienate swing voters
by George Caldwell · The Washington TimesDemocrats running the toughest races in the nation are discreetly asking outside groups for a favor: Don’t ruin their chances with swing voters by trashing President Trump.
Instead, frontline Democratic campaigns are using a clever campaign trick to get around campaign finance laws and instruct allies on messaging in battleground districts.
“We do not need to have a conversation about President Trump,” reads a “media kit” on the website of Janelle Stelson, a Democrat attempting to flip a central Pennsylvania district that favored the president by five percentage points in 2024.
The district is represented by Republican Rep. Scott Perry.
Candidates use media kits as a way to legally give outside political action committees guidance on how to spend most effectively in their favor – a practice known as “red-boxing.”
The messaging memos, which usually list political messages and the exact media markets that need to see them, are tucked in easily overlooked corners of campaign websites to clue in PACs on what talking points voters should hear.
It is prohibited for campaigns to privately coordinate with outside groups on spending for or against candidates.
However, the Federal Election Commission does not crack down on campaigns releasing information publicly about their messaging strategy.
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“It’s taken off tremendously now because so much of the money is spent by outside organizations,” Ray LaRaja, a political science professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst, told The Washington Times.
“You’re not supposed to coordinate, but to make sure that you’re not off-message, campaigns will red-box their themes and who they’re targeting,” said Mr. LaRaja.
Rep. Adam Gray, California Democrat, is seeking reelection in a San Joaquin Valley district where almost half of voters backed Mr. Trump in 2024.
As he faces Republican former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln, Mr. Gray is asking outside groups to focus solely on local issues, rather than the national political battle.
“Under Mayor Kevin Lincoln, Stockton moved in the wrong direction,” reads Mr. Gray’s media kit. “This is not about national issues or national talking points. This should all be local in feel, tone, and content.”
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Adam Frisch is director of electoral programs for Welcome PAC, a pro-Democratic group that backs candidates in Trump-won districts.
He ran against Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, in 2022 and lost by a few hundred votes – a surprisingly close margin in a heavily pro-Trump district.
He told The Times that he warns candidates not to mention Mr. Trump.
“I tell people, ‘Do not mention Trump ever. Do not mention MAGA ever,’” he said. “You show up and say, ‘I know why some people voted for Republicans, and you are not wrong to do so, but I believe that you’ve been wronged every day since the Republicans have been in power.’”
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This is not to say he doubts polls that show Mr. Trump losing support from groups that backed him in 2024, such as Hispanics.
“Is Donald Trump at 32, or 35, or 37% [job-approval rating]? I don’t know. But I will say this: He’s a lot lower in polls than he was a year ago and where he was two years ago,” said Mr. Frisch. “I doubt Donald Trump has gained support from any group or community.”
But Mr. Frisch says Democrats’ unpopular brand is a reason not to lean into cocky, aggressively partisan talking points.
“The brand’s a mess,” he said. “The quicker the party gets away from being the party of, ‘I’m going to make your life more righteous,’ to ‘I’m going to make your life easier,’ the better.”
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To win over persuadable voters, Mr. Frisch urges battleground Democrats to adopt a local focus and avoid talking about national political battles.
“I tell people you need to sincerely be focused on your district and not on either national party, because the people that are deciding elections, they hate everyone in D.C.,” he said. “They hate the Democratic Party, they hate the Republican Party, they hate politicians. … People want to see the sincerity of your independence from the party apparatus.”
Some vulnerable Democrats are leaning into this bipartisan image, asking groups to portray them as bipartisan compromisers, despite the bitterly partisan environment in Washington.
Rep. Kathy Castor, Florida Democrat, has represented her deep-blue Tampa seat for almost two decades.
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But pro-Republican redistricting has pushed her territory further east into more Republican Hillsborough County, forcing her to appeal to more conservative voters to remain in Congress.
“Kathy was one of only a few Democrats to break with her party and join Republicans to pass a ban on stock trading by Members of Congress. She is working across party lines,” her kit says.
Moderate Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who was drawn out of his old district, is in the same situation as he tries to win election in the 25th Congressional District, drawn in favor of Republicans.
His media kit, which is not accessible from his website homepage, stresses “voters across FL-25 need to see ads on cable” that show he will “put South Florida families ahead of partisan politics.”
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George Caldwell
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