WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party appears to be entering a new political phase as voters and candidates move beyond the strategy that defined much of the party's response to President Donald Trump during his first term.
For years, Democrats built campaigns around opposing Trump, defending democratic institutions and warning voters about the consequences of his presidency. But the 2026 primary season is offering signs that simply being a prominent figure in the “Trump resistance” is no longer enough to win Democratic voters.
The latest example came in Florida, where state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman in the Democratic Senate primary. Vindman had become nationally known after testifying during Trump's first impeachment, while Nixon built her campaign around years of direct political combat with Republicans in Florida.
A changing Democratic mood
The Florida result is part of a broader pattern emerging from Democratic primaries this year.
During Trump's first term, Democratic candidates who positioned themselves as defenders of democracy and opponents of the president often attracted enormous enthusiasm from the party's voters and donors. The 2018 midterm elections, for example, were heavily shaped by opposition to Trump.
But Democrats are now confronting a different political reality.
Trump has returned to the White House, and simply reminding voters of the battles of his first administration may not provide a sufficient political strategy for the future. The party increasingly faces pressure to demonstrate what it would do with power rather than only explain what it opposes.
The shift is particularly important as Democrats begin looking toward the 2028 presidential election, when the party will have to select a nominee capable of defining a new political message.
Vindman's defeat becomes a symbol
Vindman's defeat in Florida has attracted particular attention because of his political biography.
He became a national Democratic hero after his testimony during Trump's 2019 impeachment proceedings. Vindman testified about Trump's pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his family.
That experience made Vindman one of the best-known figures from the first-term resistance to Trump.
He also entered the Florida Senate race with substantial financial backing. According to The Washington Post, Vindman raised about $16 million, compared with less than $1 million raised by Nixon. Yet Nixon defeated him by roughly 12 percentage points.
The result suggested that national recognition, establishment support and a powerful anti-Trump biography did not necessarily translate into primary success.
Nixon offered a different model
Nixon's campaign represented a much more locally rooted form of political combat.
The Jacksonville-area Democrat had spent nearly six years fighting Republican policies in Florida's legislature. She opposed the agenda of Gov. Ron DeSantis and became involved in highly visible confrontations over Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts.
In May, Nixon was arrested after staging a five-hour sit-in in the governor's office over the redistricting process. During an earlier protest, she walked onto the Florida House floor carrying a hot-pink bullhorn and loudly objected to the proposed congressional map.
That record allowed Nixon to portray herself not simply as someone who opposed Trump, but as someone who had spent years fighting Republican power directly.
Her campaign also combined that combative image with progressive policies, including support for universal child care and Medicare-for-all.
“Resistance 1.0” is losing its appeal
The Democratic debate reflects a larger frustration within the party about the effectiveness of its response to Trump.
Tré Easton, vice president for public policy at the Democratic think tank Searchlight Institute, described the change as the end of what he called “Resistance 1.0.”
The argument is straightforward: Trump was impeached twice during his first term, yet he ultimately returned to the presidency.
That experience has caused some Democrats to question whether resistance alone is an adequate political strategy.
The party still strongly opposes Trump, but voters may increasingly want candidates who can offer a broader vision on the economy, health care, education, housing, immigration and other domestic issues.
The party's establishment is facing questions
The primary results are also raising questions about the influence of the Democratic establishment.
Vindman had the backing of prominent Democratic figures and a massive fundraising advantage. Yet those advantages could not overcome the appeal of a candidate with a stronger connection to grassroots political activism.
A similar dynamic appeared in Wisconsin earlier this month, although in the opposite direction.
Democrats there rejected democratic socialist candidate Francesca Hong in favor of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a more moderate candidate. Crowley's victory reflected concerns among some Democratic voters about whether Hong could defeat the Republican nominee in a state that Donald Trump had won twice.
Taken together, the results suggest that Democratic voters are not moving uniformly toward either the center or the left.
Instead, they appear increasingly focused on a different question: Who can actually win?
Progressives are still gaining ground
The decline of the traditional Trump-resistance model does not mean Democratic voters have abandoned progressive politics.
Nixon's Florida victory demonstrates that a candidate can combine progressive policies with an aggressive, outsider-style campaign.
Her victory was especially notable because she won support in parts of Florida where left-wing candidates have traditionally struggled. A Washington Post analysis found that Nixon performed strongly in lower-income and less-college-educated counties as well as communities with large Black populations. She also won suburban areas that often resist progressive candidates.
That combination could be important for Democrats nationally.
The party has struggled to determine how to unite its progressive activists with voters who are less ideologically committed but potentially decisive in competitive elections.
Democrats are searching for a new political identity
The central challenge for Democrats is now bigger than individual primary contests.
The party needs to determine what it stands for after years of defining itself largely through opposition to Trump.
A new generation of candidates could emerge from state legislatures, city governments and grassroots movements rather than from Washington's established political networks.
These candidates may still fiercely oppose Trump and Republican policies. But instead of relying primarily on the language of resistance, they could emphasize direct confrontation, practical results and a positive political agenda.
That distinction could become especially important in the 2028 presidential contest.
The 2028 question is already emerging
Trump's second presidency has effectively reset the Democratic Party's political calendar.
With the next presidential election approaching, Democrats have no obvious incumbent or predetermined nominee. The party is therefore beginning a wide-open search for candidates who can define its next chapter.
The emerging primary battles could offer clues about what Democratic voters want from that generation of leaders.
Candidates associated with Trump's first impeachment battles may no longer automatically command the enthusiasm they once did. Meanwhile, politicians with records of fighting Republican governments at the state and local level may find a stronger audience.
That does not mean the party has stopped caring about democracy or Trump's conduct. Instead, those issues may increasingly become part of a broader campaign rather than the campaign itself.
A new kind of fighter
The Democratic Party's emerging message may therefore be less about being the loudest opponent of Trump and more about proving that a candidate can fight effectively while presenting a credible alternative.
Angie Nixon's Florida victory provides one example of that model: a candidate with progressive views, a strong grassroots identity and a record of confronting Republicans directly.
Whether that approach can succeed in a general election remains uncertain. Nixon faces a difficult November contest in a state where Republican Sen. Ashley Moody is considered heavily favored, and Democratic strategists had hoped a better-funded candidate such as Vindman could make the race more competitive.
But the primary result still carries a broader message.
For Democrats, the political era in which opposition to Donald Trump was enough to define a candidate may be coming to an end. As the party looks toward 2028, voters appear increasingly interested in candidates who can do more than resist.
They want fighters who can win, govern and offer a clear alternative.
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