‘We must deliver’: jubilant Democrats gather in Denver to chart way forward

What’s next for Democrats ?

It’s the question thousands of Democrats, including lawmakers, strategists, pollsters, creators, organizers, staffers and 2028 presidential hopefuls are trying to answer at a three-day gathering in Denver, after a sweeping victory in the 2026 midterm elections.

But the answer remains vague.

“We must deliver immediate, bold relief during this affordability crisis,” James Talarico, the senator-elect from Texas, said at the “What’s Next” conference on Thursday.

“Now, we’ll have the collective responsibility to really get to work, fighting for an affordable America, working hard to drive down the high cost of … groceries, high cost of gas, high cost of housing,” Hakeem Jeffries, the congressman of New York, said on Friday.

The consensus is Democrats need to act quickly when they become the majority in January. But the how in that is much more complicated.

Hakeem Jeffries speaks during the ‘What’s Next’ conference in Denver, Colorado. Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters

There’s a looming question of whether lawmakers should focus more on accountability and pursuing investigations into the administration or focus on moving legislation forward to make life more affordable for Americans.

Rob Sand, the governor-elect of Iowa , told reporters on Thursday he thought the focus should be on delivering tangible economic relief.

“Every time I read, right now, about more investigations of things that have already been reported on in the media, I’m thinking: ‘Why do we need to investigate that? It’s already been reported on.’ Why don’t you do something actually productive or better people’s lives,” Sand said.

Jamie Raskin, the congressman from Maryland who is expected to lead the House judiciary committee, told reporters he believed lawmakers could do both.

Not to mention, there’s a fight brewing over party leadership in the Senate. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is now challenging Chuck Schumer, the party’s longtime leader, as Senate majority leader.

“I’m not voting for senator Schumer,” Elissa Slotkin, a senator for Michigan, told reporters on Friday.

Yet the mood at the Democrats’ de facto victory party – which was planned months in advance by a new group called Majority Democrats – was mostly celebratory. Attendees reveled in the massive wins in longtime Republican strongholds that handed the party sizable majorities in both chambers of Congress and expanded Democrats’ control of governorships and state legislatures across the country.

Attenders cheer as Chris Van Hollen announces he will challenge Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader. Photograph: Mark Makela/Getty Images

A six-piece jazz band welcomed attendees to a spacious outdoor plaza on Thursday afternoon. Attendees hugged and congratulated one another. The plaza was packed with smiling Democrats, some wearing “Talarico for Texas” shirts and “Jamie Ager for Congress” pins, others wore “pay your taxes” hats.

Most of the attendees were young. Many of the organizers and strategists are people who joined Democratic groups or campaigns in or after 2016, when Donald Trump was first elected.

Multiple attendees described the event like a class reunion.

The crowd was filled with hugs, laughter and selfies of overjoyed organizers who have spent the last decade working toward a Democratic sweep.

“I think it is important to debrief elections, win or lose. I think we saw the negative ramifications of not properly debriefing an election after 2024,” said Danielle Butterfield, the executive director of Priorities USA, a Democratic-aligned Super Pac.

By 4pm on Friday, alcoholic beverages were flowing and what seemed like an endless stream of happy hours began.

Yet, beneath the excitement appeared to be a fear that Democrats would fail to seize the moment.

“We can’t fuck this up,” one Democratic strategist said.

Reminders of simmering tensions within the party were present throughout the weekend. Leftist protesters interrupted Jeffries multiple times during his Friday event on the main stage. They called him a traitor, accused him of not pushing back enough on the Trump administration and of ignoring younger Democratic voters.

Protesters hold a banner stating ‘Abolish Billionaires’ outside the ‘What’s Next’ conference. Photograph: Mark Makela/Getty Images

Outside of the event venue, a small group of protesters called on Democrats to reject Schumer and elect new leadership. Another larger group of protesters expressed support for Palestine and denounced billionaires.

Progressive Democrats, whose presence on the main stage was few and far between at the “What’s Next” conference, have expressed deep frustrations with establishment Democrats.

Throughout the event, some Democrats alluded to those frustrations.

Anderson Clayton, the 28-year-old chair of the North Carolina Democratic party, questioned why Democrats had not invested in the South, especially in Black districts where voters cast their ballots for Democrats.

Jeff Jackson, the North Carolina attorney general, speaks during the ‘What’s Next’ conference. Photograph: Mark Makela/Getty Images

“We say that Black voters are the base of our party. Then I ask why are we not investing in a region of the country that on Tuesday night, just proved everybody wrong of what is possible,” Clayton said on Thursday.

Aftab Pureval, the mayor of Cincinnati, warned Democrats not to take the recent wins as a sign that the Democratic party was popular.

“Victory has a nasty tendency of clouding our judgment. It turns our eyes inward, tempting us to believe that, we here in this room, saved democracy. That the American people finally came around to our way of thinking. But the truth is, they didn’t come around to us,” Pureval said.

“Last week, they gave us one more chance to come around to them .”

But when asked about the potential split in Democratic factions, many attendees dismissed concerns, believing Democrats will rise to the occasion.

“The progressive – moderate binary in this moment in our politics is insufficient for understanding the moment that we’re in,” Yasmin Radjy, the executive director of Swing Left, a progressive grassroots organization, told the Guardian.

“Among the attendees, there is a pretty dynamic mix and while this conference is branded as a moderate conference, when you look more specifically at both the main stage messaging and the ways that a lot of leaders here are talking, there is a different thing that’s happening,” Radjy said.

“There’s more talk about what it means to embrace the politics of addition, what it means to really make sure that Democrats deliver in a major way.”

Copyright for this text belongs to The Guardian.