How Democrats Can Win Back the Young Men They’ve Lost

How do Democrats counter a force that so effectively emasculated the GOP’s chosen father figures? Simply put, either the party’s messaging or its chief messengers must change. The former is a nonstarter. The notion the Dems would ever risk alienating female and LGBTQ voters in order to mimic Trump’s coarse, inflammatory bombast is absurd. Besides, this is the side of their politics that’s already working.

But Democrats can expand their range of surrogates. They can invest more heavily in the young men already in their ranks who have the background and cultural coding to appeal to Coca-Cola Classic voters. Candidates with experience in the armed services, professional sports, manufacturing, and farming should be brought to the fore. The world of union organizing is packed with men who are effective communicators; like the ubiquitous Shawn Fain, they frequently have to navigate a more diverse world of constituents—young and old, liberal and conservative, a robust admixture of races and religious faith—all while having a facility with the lives of working-class families. Democrats should elevate more of these figures, and get their flocks more of what they need to live good lives.

Democrats have flirted with success in this vein before. In the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reportedly interviewed hundreds of veterans to run for office. DCCC officials rightly felt these former members of the military were the ideal candidates to flip red districts. Of the 24 GOP congressional incumbents unseated by Democrats in the 2018 midterm cycle, one-third were ousted by either veterans or candidates with backgrounds in national security work. Inevitably, this process will result in political action committees and party elders backing a young, male candidate over a long-serving incumbent. Democrats must be willing to get new blood in the mix.