With President Donald Trump‘s 2024 gains in Orange County still fresh, Democrats are retooling their message to connect with voters who’ve slipped away.
Their renewed focus will be on affordability and other “bread and butter” issues, local Democrats said at a meeting of the Central Orange County Democrats on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
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“It’s important that we are cognizant of the issues that affect us locally,” said Frank Gomez, chair of the Central Orange County Democrats. “Going forward, we need to work collaboratively … to try to solve those issues that impact us in our daily lives.”
A post-Election Day survey of 838 Orange County voters found that the economy was a key factor in their votes, with half reporting dissatisfaction with their economic situation. (The poll, conducted from Nov. 12-18 online, has a margin of error of 5.5%.)
Orange County Democrats’ main focus going into the 2026 midterm election will have to be “affordable housing and other affordability issues,” said Sandra Robbie of North Tustin. “People need to know … that we are about issues that make a difference in people’s lives every day.”
Between jabs at Trump and his recent actions on immigration, conversations during the nearly two-hour meeting at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tustin kept circling back to practical, “kitchen table” issues: affordable housing, jobs, children’s education and paying the bills.
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, the guest speaker for the evening event, said he doesn’t believe local Democrats had a losing message in the 2024 election cycle.
“I think we’ve always stood for things that are really impactful and touch people’s lives,” he said.
Despite “a lot to be sad about nationally” — Republicans control the presidency, the House and the Senate — Sarmiento pointed to the gains Democrats made locally.
The majority of Orange County’s Sacramento delegation are Democrats, and five of the six congressional seats that touch Orange County communities are now represented by Democrats, up one a year ago.
But Sarmiento’s remarks weren’t without some reflection on the party’s stumbles.
“Trump had a message that resonated. And people that supported him — Democrats who left the party, many of the folks who were in the middle — said, ‘I’m going to follow whoever can fulfill my expectations,’” he said. “So I think we have to understand and learn, what was it that resonated with people? Why did so many Latinos leave what was once a party that they stood with for so many years?”
“That’s an analysis we need to make,” said Sarmiento.
In Santa Ana, Sarmiento’s hometown, where he served as mayor, nearly 80% of the residents are Latino. There, Trump’s vote share grew by 7 percentage points from 2020 to 2024 and by 9 percentage points from his first White House run in 2016 to 2020.
Sarmiento said national and local Democrats have drifted from their core focus: working-class people striving to achieve the American dream for their children. While the party has always supported labor and the middle class, he said, Sarmiento believes that message was largely lost in the last election cycle.
“I have three children … and I don’t think any one of them will be able to afford to live in the county that they were raised in,” he said. “So those are just the realities that we have to be really frank about. Our message needs to be, ‘How do we find a way to make the American dream accessible once again? How do we make sure that we empower and inspire families … that they realize they’re living in a county, in a state, in a country where their dreams will be realized?’”
“That’s something I don’t see happening yet. And so we need to get back to that; we need to make sure that that is our vision, our message and that’s something that’s going to compel folks.”
While local Democrats should prioritize rebuilding trust with voters on the economy, Sarmiento said they must also step up as a resource for the immigrant community amid growing concerns over Trump’s agenda.
“We have to let them know they are protected … elected officials will be getting together to ensure people know their rights,” he said.
He also said he believes Trump being the first convicted felon to become president doesn’t “set a good tone nationally,” but Democrats could shift that narrative locally.
“We’re asking for transparency, disclosure, good governance and accountability, and that’s where I see the party having a window of opportunity, where we can call out things that are wrong. We’re hoping that we can be the party of change, the party of accountability,” he said.
In addition to prioritizing affordability, Democrats said they’re focusing on expanding outreach in swing districts and ruby-red areas of Orange County.
That’s a steep hill to climb, according to Eugene Fields, recently elected vice chair for Region 3, which includes some of the reddest parts of Orange County: Yorba Linda and Villa Park.
But Fields said he sees a path forward through more neighbor-to-neighbor outreach.
“It’s about finding folks who want to run for office, from city council to school boards and water boards, who can connect with their neighbors,” he said.
For Gomez, the next step is clear.
“My hope is that we, the Democratic Party, ponder what it is we could’ve done better and reorganize and begin looking for candidates that we believe speak to the middle class and their needs, and find those candidates now,” Gomez said.
