Democratic Activists Are Surging, and Turning Their Anger Inward
Democratic activist groups report record growth before the 2026 midterms, but the base is turning its frustration toward its own leaders.
At a bar in suburban Cleveland this June, a state Democratic Party leader met an audience that did not want a pep talk. They wanted a plan.
Kathleen Clyde, chair of the Ohio Democrats, finished a call to action and opened the floor to questions. According to a report by The Atlantic, the activists pressed her on the party's weak brand and the absence of a clear message. When Clyde offered "affordability" as the answer, the room demanded specifics. She left shortly after.
The scene captures a tension running through the Democratic base ahead of November. Volunteer energy is high. Patience with party leadership is low.
A base that is mobilizing fast
The activists in Cleveland belong to GRR, short for Grass Roots Resistance, a group formed about a week after Donald Trump's first election win. It started with roughly a dozen women. It now counts more than 200 members, according to The Atlantic.
GRR is not an outlier. Several national organizations report sharp growth since the 2024 election.
Indivisible, a network of local activist groups, says it now has about 2,800 active chapters. That is more than double its count before the 2024 vote. Co-founder Leah Greenberg told The Atlantic that participation during Trump's second term is "dramatically higher" than during his first.
Run for Something says about 80,000 people signed up to run for office through the group in 2025. That figure exceeds the total for all of Trump's first term, the organization said.
Red, Wine & Blue, which launched in 2019 to reach suburban swing voters, reports 200,000 new members since Trump's second inauguration. The group says this growth outpaces both the 2020 and 2022 cycles.
Organizers of the third "No Kings" protest, held in March, claim 8 million participants. If accurate, that would rank as the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. The figure comes from organizers and has not been independently confirmed.
The mood is different from 2018
The last midterm held during a Trump presidency, in 2018, produced a wave of Democratic activism. Organizers say the current wave feels distinct.
"In 2018, there was a top-down resistance," Amanda Litman, executive director of Run for Something, told The Atlantic. "That hasn't felt true this time."
This time, organizers describe a base that is leading rather than following. And much of its anger points inward.
Yasmin Radjy, executive director of the progressive group Swing Left, said volunteers and donors are growing impatient with what she called "cultural sclerosis" inside Democratic organizations. The recurring question, she said, is what the party is doing differently than in 2024.
Susan Polakoff Shaw, a GRR leader, put the frustration plainly. "We're still pissed that we lost the election in 2024," she told The Atlantic, adding that members are angry at their own leaders for not standing up to Trump and Republicans more forcefully.
The unanswered question
The base wants to know how the party plans to win. So far, The Atlantic reports, there has been no clear institutional answer.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin released the party's promised 2024 election review only after sustained public pressure. The report, according to the outlet, arrived half-finished and offered few firm conclusions.
The party's brand remains a problem. Multiple strategists described it to The Atlantic as "in the toilet." One poll cited in the report found that the Democratic Party is viewed more favorably than Iran but less favorably than AI.
Leadership is another sticking point. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would likely return as majority leader if Democrats retake the Senate. According to the report, some polling shows he is more disliked than Trump.
Why a win may not settle the argument
The political landscape looks favorable for Democrats heading into the midterms. Many candidates are expected to perform well.
That is part of what worries some inside the party. They fear that electoral wins could mask deeper structural problems and delay any real reckoning.
For the activists in Cleveland and the hundreds of thousands joining groups across the country, enthusiasm is not the constraint. The open question is whether party leaders are listening, and whether they have an answer when the microphone gets passed back.