Democrats are trying to talk less about race. It’s not clear they can.
Today’s newsletter comes, unusually, on Friday because I’ve spent the past two days at the Times Square Sheraton, where Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention has played host to ambitious Democrats from across the country. The 2028 backdrop is hard to ignore: Govs. Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore, and JB Pritzker have all spoken thus far, with Andy Beshear scheduled for Saturday. Beyond the governors, Sen. Ruben Gallego and Rep. Ro Khanna have both appeared, while Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris are slated for later today.
But the conference was more than a mere early cattle call. It offered an interesting snapshot of major Democrats’ positioning ahead of the 2026 midterms and the 2028 primary, in which support from Black voters will likely be pivotal. Many party leaders and liberal thinkers have come to agree that Democrats should downplay issues of race and identity — a trend that has become apparent in governors’ public remarks. At the same time, the NAN convention shows that may be easier said than done on the national stage, for reasons both political and practical.
To offer one example of the party’s evolution in recent years, I reviewed the transcripts of the State of the State addresses of every Democratic governor going back to 2021 and found a marked decline in explicit references to racism, racial inequality, and policies to address either, in recent years.
Methodology: Manual review of transcripts of annual State of the State addresses from 2021-2026, followed by AI-powered review. Reference is defined as a discrete, explicit mention of racism, racial inequality, or policies to address either.
The result was what I expected. Having watched thousands of hours of Democratic politicians’ remarks in recent years, and hundreds just of Democratic governors in the past few months, I’ve noticed a stark change in their focus.
The change has also shown up in the legislative record of Democratic-run states. According to data from American Pride Rises, which tracks legislative action around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the number of pro-DEI initiatives enacted at the state level has declined in Trump’s second term, from 40 in 2024 to 22 in 2025. So far in 2026, only two new pro-DEI laws have been enacted, far below recent years’ pace. (N.B. Full data, unfortunately, only goes back to 2023).
To hear many in the party’s intelligentsia — from Sanders-aligned progressives to Third Way centrists — tell it, the evidence for this approach is clear. A heavy emphasis on racial justice and their opponent’s bigotry coincided with Donald Trump notching ever-increasing non-white support, culminating in roughly 1 in 10 Black women, 2 in 10 Black men, 4 in 10 Asian men and women, and 5 in ten Latino men and Latina women in 2024. The data suggests that, so far, this camp seems to be winning the battle among party leaders.
But the limitations of that approach in the years ahead were laid bare this week. To begin with, surveys show Black Democrats believe their party should heavily prioritize issues like defending DEI initiatives. That sentiment was shared, passionately in some cases, by many attendees I spoke to. Black political leaders also show no sign of deprioritizing the issues: Speaking on Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared that “when you attack diversity, equity, and inclusion, you attack the United States of America.”
Even more importantly, the breadth of the Trump administration’s assault on anything resembling “diversity” initiatives — including the emaciation of major achievements of the civil rights era, like the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — makes it very difficult for any Democratic candidate not to make clear how they will pick up the pieces. That was the clear backdrop for Sharpton’s conversations with Shapiro, Moore, and Pritzker, each of whom pitched their states as bulwarks against the Trump administration’s ambitions but gestured only vaguely at what concrete actions ought to be taken at the federal level.
When it came to the rest of those conversations, Moore, the country’s only Black governor, received by far the most welcome. He repeatedly winked at the potential he may run in 2028, and talked up his still-stalled effort to enter Maryland into the ongoing gerrymandering arms race (per a source in Maryland, there is no breakthrough on the horizon for that plan). Pritzker got an enthusiastic reception, especially when Sharpton steered the conversation towards his elevation of Juliana Stratton, his lieutenant governor, in last month’s Senate primary. Shapiro heavily emphasized his faith, inadvertently leading to a funny moment when he referenced “his pastor” in Pennsylvania. “You don’t think a Jew can go to a Baptist church?” he asked the crowd. “Alright, if you say so, that’s fine,” Sharpton replied.
Leaving the conference yesterday, one quote from Sharpton more than any stuck out to me: “Whoever is the candidate of the Democratic Party … will have to face the aftermath of Donald Trump.” If the past two days is any indication, how they handle that aftermath is still up for debate.
Another Democrat joins the tech revolt
I wrote last week about the growing opposition among Democratic governors and state legislators towards pro-data center incentives. This week, one more joined the pack, NC Gov. Josh Stein, who this week called for slashing or eliminating his state’s incentive.
And one last thing
The Intercept has an interesting piece about an unsuccessful effort by a right-wing website to foment Minnesota-level scrutiny on the Somali and Somali-American community in Maine, where federal agents were briefly a strong presence this winter. The states’ situations differ deeply — Minnesota had an actual, multi-billion dollar fraud scandal — and the plan did not ultimately work out. Immigration agents largely withdrew from the state amid opposition from ME Gov. Janet Mills and Sen. Susan Collins.
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