Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat, says his party must shed ‘coastal elite’ image to regain footing

Sen. Michael Bennet says the Democratic brand has become “really problematic” because the party has become too tied to coastal elites — turning off working-class voters.

“It is a brand that … is associated with New York and with California, is associated with the educated elites in this country, and not anymore with working people in this country,” the Colorado Democrat said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

Mr. Bennet briefly ran for president in 2020, but his campaign flamed out after gaining little traction with primary voters. The 60-year-old is considering running for governor of Colorado.

Meanwhile, Democrats face a brutal 2026 midterm map in the Senate.

The retirements of Sens. Gary Peters of Michigan, Tina Smith of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire have hurt Democratic prospects of gaining in the 2026 Senate races.

The exits also pave the way for new leaders to emerge and steer the party in a new direction.

Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is expected to run for the U.S. Senate, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that it will take “years for us to rebuild a Democratic Party that looks very different, sounds very different and fights for people in a way that we can all be proud of.”

Mr. Bennet said the good news for Democrats is that President Trump’s embrace of “trickle-down economics” and tax cuts for the rich will not age well with voters.

“But the Democratic Party ought to be able to come back, under those circumstances, with a pretty good argument about why we could leader better than Donald Trump and why we are able to provide a better set of economic policies, a much better set of health care policies than ensures universal healthcare, finally, for everybody in this country,” he said.

Mr. Bennet said Democrats also must focus on strengthening schools.

“If the Democratic Party would show up with some imagination, I think, not only would we do better, the American people would do better,” he said.

In a recent interview with Politico, Mr. Bennet said the party has a clear leadership void and has a message that amounts to “basically, yeah, Trump’s bad.”