How the Consulting Class Is Eating the Democratic Party
22nd October 2026
The New Republic, a Voice of the Left.
Your phone buzzes with a frantic text message. “DEMOCRACY IS ON THE LINE.” It’s not the first time you’ve gotten a fundraising text like this from the Democratic Party and its candidates. Nor the first time you’ve rolled your eyes. But the ask makes sense. Democracy really is on the line. You have asked yourself what you would have done if you had lived under the authoritarian regimes of the past, and volunteering some time and money seems like the least you could do. You click the ActBlue link and donate $100. The country must be saved, after all.
You, the ordinary American, are expected to step up. But are the party insiders stepping up as well? At the very same moment your $100 clears, the party leadership and strategists are at a donor retreat you were not invited to, walking a few dozen people who write seven-figure checks through the polling and the proprietary model that will set the party’s priorities for the cycle. You have a general sense that this is how the game is played, that winning elections requires money from big and small donors. You’re skeptical of the House and Senate leadership, who are increasingly unpopular with the base. But overall, you see a party apparatus that wants to win and oust the Republican Party from control of government, and you assume both tracks feed that goal.
We’re here to tell you that this view is wrong. The Democratic Party is being devoured by an ecosystem of consultants. Mostly out of view of the party’s voters and activists, political consultants are paid to raise the money, place the ads, and set the strategy. And they’re paid regardless of whether the party wins or loses.