Is the Democrats’ New Majority Coming for Young Staffers?
6th November 2026
Every new majority in Congress arrives with a plan. Usually, the plan is about how to make life better for everyday Americans. On Nov. 3, Democrats won both chambers of Congress. Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., has already told us what they have in mind instead: intimidating the young people who show up to serve.
On Oct. 13, three weeks before the vote, the Michigan Democrat spoke at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics about what her party would do with power. I was on campus that day. Her message was aimed at students like me.
“I want young people coming out of school to say, should I go work for the Trump administration?” she said. She wants them to think, “Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want.” And she was clear about the goal: “I want that deterrence message.”
Not one of those words is about a crime. None is about catching people who broke the law. They are about graduates who have not even taken a job yet. Her target is the decision to serve.
Nice life you have there. Be a shame if anything were to happen to it.