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Inside a Gathering of Top Democrats Filled With Hope, Nerves and ’28 Buzz

At an annual event for Democratic governors, optimism about next year overshadowed the search for a long-term vision. As Gretchen Whitmer put it, adding an expletive: “Let’s go!”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the new vice chair of the Democratic Governors Association, in Grand Rapids this summer. Asked this weekend in Phoenix if she planned to run for president, she shot back, “Who knows?”Credit...Isaac Ritchey/The Grand Rapids Press, via Associated Press

Lisa LererKatie Glueck and Tyler Pager

The reporters spoke with nearly two dozen governors and candidates at a gathering of the Democratic Governors Association in Phoenix.

Dec. 8, 2025, 12:05 p.m. ET

After a year mired in reflection and recrimination over the future of their party, Democratic governors are suddenly showing some swagger.

As they gathered this weekend for the annual holiday meeting of the Democratic Governors Association, the group’s new chair, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, predicted that Democrats would expand on their 23 governorships and reclaim a majority of the nation’s top state jobs for the first time in 16 years.

Governors and candidates mingled over cocktails and coffee at the storied Arizona Biltmore hotel in Phoenix, where more than 700 lobbyists, donors and operatives converged for what officials bragged was the biggest event in the organization’s history. The size, attendees argued, was a sign of growing expectations that Democrats could regain political power — not only in next year’s midterm elections but also, perhaps, in the 2028 presidential race.

And in a private meeting for governors on Saturday afternoon, enthusiasm about next year’s elections reached high decibels.

“Let’s go!” shouted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the new vice chair of the organization, who has won two terms in one of the nation’s most closely divided states. She punctuated her remarks with an expletive, according to two people familiar with the comments who insisted on anonymity to share details of a closed-door meeting. The group of roughly 20 governors exploded in applause, led by a joyful whoop from Gov. Katie Hobbs of Arizona,** who is **running in one of next year’s most competitive races for governor.

But even as optimism shone through in interviews over the weekend with nearly two dozen Democratic governors and candidates to lead states, they appeared well aware that the problems that cost their party control of Washington last year are far from resolved.

While attendees celebrated their recent successes in the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races, sipping cocktails from cups with the logo “2 for 2” at a party on Saturday night, many also acknowledged that their party’s challenges with its ideas, brand, messaging and coalition run deep.

“The one problem, perhaps, that defines more things in more ways on more days as the problem of the party is this perception of weakness,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who recently muscled through a ballot measure to redraw the state’s congressional map to wipe out as many as five Republican House seats. While the November results “meaningfully” helped counter that image, he said, “I understand deeply that we have a bigger issue.”

But as they look to next year’s midterm contests, Democratic leaders expressed fresh hope of expanding their ranks in key federal and state offices around the country. They argued that as Mr. Trump’s approval rating declines, Democrats can capitalize by focusing on affordability and attacking what they see as the corruption and chaos of his administration.

The key for Democrats, many of the governors said, is to embrace a message focused predominantly on pocketbook issues and bringing down the high cost of living, rather than allowing the party to be defined by divisive discussions of abortion, climate change, transgender rights and democracy.

“If we continue to show the American people that we are for them and we recognize the challenges that they face and the immediacy of them,” Mr. Beshear said, “we’ll start winning in places we haven’t for a long time.”

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Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, the new chair of the Democratic Governors Association, at a gala last month for the Nebraska Democratic Party. Credit...Christopher (KS) Smith for The New York Times

It’s a strategy Democrats successfully leveraged last month in New Jersey and Virginia, and one they plan to deploy next year in both traditional battleground states and deeply conservative states like Iowa.

Gov. Laura Kelly of Kansas, the previous chair of the D.G.A., said Democrats had run “pitch-perfect” campaigns in New Jersey and Virginia, creating a “blueprint” for winning that should be embraced across the party.

“That’s what’s got to happen if we’re going to continue this momentum,” she said, arguing that the winning candidates had “made it very clear who they are and what they plan to do and how it’s going to impact you.”

Courtney Alexander, a spokeswoman for the Republican Governors Association, said last month’s results were a less significant political indicator than the number of voters who have moved to states led by Republicans. Over the past decade, states controlled by Republican governors, including Texas, Florida and Utah, have experienced the fastest rates of population growth.

“Americans have already voted with their feet, and that tells us everything we need to know about what to expect in 2026,” Ms. Alexander said in a statement.

In interviews, the governors were quick to stress that they did not interpret the successes in 2025 as a sign that Democrats have solved all of their party’s problems. While Democrats have repeatedly powered congressional victories with opposition to Mr. Trump, they have failed to defeat him in two presidential elections.

Midterm elections are traditionally referendums on the party in power. But presidential races are contests between different visions for the nation — and top Democrats, some officials warned, have very little consensus on what theirs should be.

Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who is now running for governor, urged Democrats to focus on developing their own policies and platform for the future.

“We need to fight” Mr. Trump, he said, “but it’s not enough. We also have to have a compelling vision of where the country is going to go.”

And some suggested that opposition to Mr. Trump might not be enough to create a durable Democratic majority, particularly once the president leaves office. Voters have repeatedly made it clear that even if they dislike Republicans, that does not mean they automatically like Democrats instead.

“I just don’t want us to think that victory driven through anger is sustainable,” Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said in an interview. Warning that for disillusioned voters, staying home was also an option, he added: “There is another binary that exists, and that binary is not Democrat or Republican, or progressive versus conservative. The binary is: in or out.”

Contested primary races across the country next year — most prominently for the House and Senate, but for governorships, too — will offer a preview of the tensions over the party’s future. Already, congressional candidates are arguing over their positions on taxes, Israel, how to resist the Trump administration and the role of money in politics.

Differences in tone and emphasis were also apparent among the candidates mingling in Phoenix.

The Democratic candidates from Georgia include Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former mayor of Atlanta and senior adviser to former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has led early polls, and Geoff Duncan, a onetime Republican lieutenant governor who broke with his party over Mr. Trump.

Mr. Duncan is urging Democrats to take a more moderate approach and focus on who can win in battleground states. Above all else, he said, the mantra should be: “Win, baby, win.”

“Democrats are ready to wake up and stay focused on how we win,” he said.

Phil Weiser, the attorney general of Colorado, who is running against Mr. Bennet, argued that voters wanted a grass-roots-focused “fighter who will stand strong and won’t try to negotiate or accommodate.”

Some Democratic leaders have argued that such differences are a strength for the party, simply reflecting the diverse political terrain across which they hope to compete. They have urged voters to welcome a new era of “big tent” politics that elevates the most inspirational politicians from both deep-blue cities and more conservative battlegrounds.

Many believe they can capitalize on broad discontent over Mr. Trump’s handling of the economy to make gains with independent and moderate voters. They also see signs that fear and anger over the administration’s immigration raids are driving Hispanic voters back to Democrats after the party lost ground with them in 2024.

But, quietly, many of the governors were already looking beyond 2026 to what is widely expected to be a presidential primary field packed with heavyweight contenders from their own ranks.

On Friday night, as governors chatted on a turf lawn behind the Spire Bar in Phoenix, attendees swarmed Mr. Newsom and Mr. Moore, according to two attendees. Throughout the weekend, Mr. Newsom in particular was stopped for selfies and drew drive-by shouts of gratitude for his pugnacious approach to Mr. Trump.

Elected officials rattled off lists of potential contenders that included Mr. Newsom, Mr. Moore, Ms. Whitmer, Mr. Beshear and many others, including Govs. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and JB Pritzker of Illinois, who skipped the event.

Asked by reporters if she planned to run for president, Ms. Whitmer shot back, “Who knows?”

But she couldn’t suppress a flash of bravado.

“My money’s on a Democratic governor,” she said, “to be the next president of the United States.”

Lisa Lerer is a national political reporter for The Times, based in New York. She has covered American politics for nearly two decades.

Katie Glueck is a Times national political reporter.

Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.

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