A bipartisan cadre of centrist lawmakers promised not to be steamrolled by Donald Trump’s plans — even if it means they draw primary challenges in the cycle ahead.
Hundreds gathered in Washington Thursday for the annual gathering of the centrist group No Labels to chart a path forward with the “power of the middle” in the wake of an election that saw partisan polarization become even more extreme — and ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s second stint in the White House.
The group, founded in 2009, vowed to spend tens of millions to stop Trump and worked for ballot access to run a “Unity” candidate in the 2024 election. And although it ultimately ended that attempt in April after failing to “identify candidates with a credible path to winning the White House,” its conference on Thursday attracted about two dozen lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.
“I am honestly energized and be here with you after this election,” said Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat representing a Maine district that Trump won by nearly 10 points. “This feels like an opportunity to hit the reset button on what we know has gone wrong with our politics in recent years.”
“Members of Congress need to come to Washington loyal to their districts, their constituents and their states — and loyal to our country,” Golden added. “It cannot be about loyalty to their party.”
But though the cheers over common-sense ideas, the threat of primary challenges loomed. Trump’s MAGA allies have already subtly threatened some more independent-minded senators who are weighing whether to block his controversial Cabinet picks with primary challenges.
“The approach is going to be: Everybody tow the line. Everybody line up. We got you here, and if you want to survive, you better be good. Don’t get on Santa’s naughty list here, because we will primary you,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who said she felt “more comfortable” with no party label.
Republican Utah Sen.-elect John Curtis, who took over Republican Sen. Mitt Romney’s seat, said he had “talked to a sitting senator today who has what feels like the entire world coming after her, because she may or may not support one of the Trump nominees.”
Although he didn’t use any senator’s name, Curtis appeared to be referring to Republican Iowa Sen. Jodi Ernst, who has signaled she may vote against confirming former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon. The resulting MAGA pressure campaign against Ernst has been fierce — also including primary threats.
During the campaign, Democrats painted Trump as an “unhinged” fascist and Republicans called Vice President Kamala Harris a “radical Marxist,” But centrists at the conference held at the storied Mayflower hotel in downtown Washington highlighted what they saw as the importance of and reaching across the aisle.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) floated the establishment of a bipartisan commission aimed at how to reduce the national debt, and Curtis said two Democrats, two Republicans and a secret ballot could “solve immigration” “in an afternoon.”
Still, they acknowledged, those types of bipartisan moves can be hard — and open up lawmakers to harassment from the party faithful or primary challengers.
Curtis said when he decided to run for Senate, he faced pressure from political consultants to move further right — which some said was his only chance to get through the primary. Though Utah was initially one of the most Never-Trump red states, it has largely shifted over to the president-elect’s camp.
And though Democrats don’t face the same threats from Trump, it allowed an opportunity for some Democrats who have already been critical of their party to re-assert their misgivings and burnish their centrist credentials.
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), whose comments last month about trans athletes garnered intense backlash from other Democrats, reasserted his stance on Thursday, saying his party has “worked so hard to become so tolerant of every little narrow group that as a whole, we’ve become intolerant if we don’t check the box.”
“I already have a couple people planning to run against me in the primary,” Moulton added. “I’m being primaried over a sentence.”
The election loss has emboldened Democrats to unleash their criticisms as the Party seeks a path forward.
“I think Democrats have had this idea, like, ‘Well, we’re the empathetic people.’ Are you empathetic to that family who has lost multiple members this week” to fentanyl? “Are you listening to people?” said Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat representing a red Washington district who last month criticized her party for leaving behind working-class voters.
And multiple Democrats, including Gluesenkamp Perez and Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York, said their party had missed the mark on immigration — or as Torres called it, “the gargantuan gaslighting around the migrant crisis.”
Democratic and Republican centrists alike also signaled an openness to the Department of Government Efficiency, a Trump initiative to cut down on regulation and government waste led by billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said she had “an excellent 70-minute meeting with Elon Musk, and I was very impressed.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), the former running mate to Hillary Clinton, agreed and said he was generally supportive of “any effort to look at what the federal government does in terms of serving citizens, and trying to say, can we produce a bigger bang for your buck” — though he cautioned that he was concerned DOGE would try to implement across-the-board cuts and attempt to move large swaths of the federal workforce out of the Washington, D.C. area.
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