Dems to America: Touch Grass

IF YOU CAN PUT DOWN YOUR IPHONE long enough to notice, there seems to be a backlash against social media and tech growing all around us.

Most adults say they are too dependent on technology and are concerned about the increased use of AI in daily life. In some industries, it seems like everybody has given thought to if and when they will lose their jobs to AI. People have become disconnected from in-person relationships, in some cases turning to chatbots for romantic connection and emotional support. It’s no wonder that landline phones are making a comeback, dumbphones are becoming more popular, and states are banning phones in schools.

These are unsettling times. But Democratic leaders are beginning to see a political opportunity for the party.

“The cultural and economic impact of AI is going to be the biggest issue in politics over the next decade,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told me this week. “There is going to be a growing appetite from voters to support candidates that are going to help them manage the potential coming disaster as AI poisons our kids and destroys all of our jobs.”¹

The wariness of or outright hostility toward AI and Big Tech exhibited by Murphy and many other Democrats could mark the final dissolution of the romance between Silicon Valley and the Democratic party. What started off as a close relationship during Barack Obama’s presidency has soured over time. The Biden White House in particular attempted to impose guardrails on the industry by bringing antitrust cases against major tech companies, warning of the risk that social media posed to mental health, and raising the alarm about all the ways that AI would upend American life. That, in part, helped explain the industry’s rightward shift in the 2024 election and its embrace of Donald Trump. Some Democrats initially responded to that shift by trying to bring the industry back into the fold.

But it now seems clear that the path forward for Democrats is to antagonize the tech industry—and to embrace not less regulation but more.

Murphy isn’t alone in his belief that figuring out a clear message on AI and tech is one of the most important things for Democrats to focus on going into the 2026 midterms and beyond. In my conversations with Democratic leaders this week, many said that they think voters feel manipulated by algorithms and the tech titans who profit off their attention. And while Republicans have dominated cultural debates in recent years, Democrats increasingly see talking about the role that AI ought to play in society as a way to appeal to a wide range of voters and repair their party brand.

“I think one of the flaws of our party is that we don’t often enough take a strong point of view on the good life,” Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) told me. Auchincloss, a father of three, has been a prominent critic of how tech companies have eroded social connections for profit.

“Democrats should say there’s a coming divide . . . between digital dopamine—the social media corporations, the pornographers, the online gambling sites that keep you trapped in an economy of endless scrolling—versus sweating and striving in real life to build things together that matter. And we, as a Democratic party, think that in-real-life is better, and we are going to architect our policy around that conviction,” Auchincloss said.

Democrats are convinced that such messaging could be fruitful not just because AI will in some way affect virtually every person in the country, but also because of how Republicans are handling the issue. While there have been bipartisan efforts to regulate social media companies and some MAGA firebrands have talked a big game about breaking up giant tech companies, President Donald Trump has complicated the party’s approach.

Since returning to office, Trump has cozied up to some of the most powerful tech leaders in the country. He gave tech CEOs prominent seats at his inauguration, entertained them at the White House, and has accepted millions of dollars in donations from them to replace the White House East Wing with his gaudy new ballroom. He signed an executive order aimed at supercharging the AI industry, and he’s drafted another or