The bold 2026 agenda we need, part 2: Winning policies for Top 5 issues

Caveat: Policy solutions aren’t exactly one-size-fits-all

How to fix housing in a dense and expensive city like New York will look different than in a sparsely-populated, poverty-stricken rural area like Alaska. As long as there’s a throughline that centers working people rather than billionaires and big business, and powerful, bold solutions that people can easily understand, various policies can win for Democrats in 2026.  More on this throughline and the larger narrative in part 3. Here’s the issues and policy solutions.

1)  Trump’s policies making the economy worse: Invest in blue-collar workers, fight for their issues

Nearly two thirds of American adults don’t have a college degree.  They aren’t getting anything out of Trump’s supposed push to rebuild American manufacturing.  Some of them have farms and other small businesses that are getting crushed. Like most Americans, they can barely pay for groceries.  Democrats could make a lot of converts among Trump voters here.  That is, if Democrats weren’t so identified with college elites in the popular mind.

There ARE Democrats who are looking to change that.  Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA) owned an auto-repair shop with her husband before being elected. Unlike most members of Congress, she hangs out mostly with people who work in the trades — construction, carpentry, woodworking.  Along with Jared Golden (ME), she is leading a revamped version of the “moderate” Blue Dogs.

A recent NY Times profile of Gluesenkamp Perez described the new Blue Dogs as “a more populist group — one that pushes for a production economy rather than a financialized one, and one willing to take on big government and big business.” 

New Dems’ Innovation Agenda 

New Dems smartly include both expanded immigration pathways “for industries experiencing shortages in certain occupations,” and support for American workers, in their plans, including:

-       Tax credits for employers to invest in community college programs and mentorships and commit to hiring graduates.  Similarly, Blue Dogs support using Pell grants to cover skills training at community colleges.

-       Federal investments in apprenticeships and on-the-job training. 

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-       Companies must expand talent pipelines to, not just interview, but HIRE people from all walks of life, including people without college degrees.

2)  Price of food/consumer goods: Stop big business collusion, “surveillance pricing” that raise prices everyday

A fundamental cause of high food prices is the fact that big food producers collude with big retailers to keep competition low and prices high. 

There is a federal law already on the books that could help: the New Deal-era Robinson-Patman Act. The Consumer Grocery Pricing Fairness Act is a recently-introduced New York state version of Robinson-Patman.  It would enable smaller retailers to compete on price, because they could access supplier discounts that only big retailers get now.

Another issue is “surveillance pricing” – AI-enabled dynamic pricing that allows companies to charge people different prices for the same items at the same stores.  Instacart was recently in the news for charging some people 23% more than others. There is a bill in the Senate on this.

3)  Affordable Housing: Build new housing, support tenants unions, keep existing housing out of corporate clutches

Build millions of new homes

AOC and Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced the Homes Act in the House and Senate. It would provide federal funding for millions of new homes and apartments that would have income-based rents and be required to remain affordable. As with current public housing, the homes would be run by non-profits, housing associations or cooperatives. 

New Seattle mayor Katie Wilson has embraced a similar idea, the Seattle Social Housing Developer, a city-owned startup,  which involves a public developer building and managing housing that is designed to be permanently affordable for people with a mix of incomes.

Support tenant unions, hold private equity landlords accountable

In August 2024, according to a story in In These Times, “Five tenants unions from around the country convened to announce the launch of a new national organization to take on the power of multistate real-estate capital. The Tenant Union Federation marks the first major national effort at tenant organizing in 40 years.”

A current campaign targets mega-landlord Capital Realty Group, a New York-based private equity firm which owns more than 18,000 units over 28 states.  Hundreds of tenants across four states – CT, MI, KY and MO – signed up to fight the landlord in just one month. 

Cities, states, and the Federal government could enact laws preventing landlords from retaliating against organized tenants (for example, by evicting them).  They could also fine landlords for violations like failing to provide heat or eliminate pests, and seize buildings for repeated and long-term violations.  Even better, the Federal government could cut off the head of the snake…

Keep existing homes out of corporate clutches

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) has a bill called the Humans Over Private Equity (HOPE) for Homeownership Act.  He notes that private equity is “taking over the housing market.”   Early in 2023, PE was buying 27% of the single-family homes on the market.  These are the all-cash offers that humans can’t compete with.  Research shows these PE owners, when they rent out the homes, are 68% more likely than small landlords to file for evictions, impose high rent increases, charge inflated fees, and ignore building maintenance. 

This bill would BAN hedge-fund ownership of private homes after ten years of a wind-down period.  Don’t see why it couldn’t be expanded to rental housing.

4)  Money in politics:  Make integrity a selling point for candidates, curb dark money as part of election reform package

 AIPAC Tracker: Show Who Owns Candidates - or Doesn't

Progressives have made a real impact with the AIPAC Tracker, which publicizes how much money candidates and electeds have received from the Israel lobby, including when the amount is ZERO. 

This should be done for health care giants, food companies, military contractors, etc. on the national level.  Make it risky for candidates to be seen as “bought” by these industries.  Make refusing dirty money a selling point for clean candidates.

Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA)

This bill is about a lot more than money in politics.  But “money” could be a gateway drug to get people more engaged in fixing our political system writ large.

FTVA would strengthen voting rights, safeguard the electoral process, prohibit partisan gerrymandering, and curb dark money in politics.  It’s been passed in the House, but blocked in the Senate.  Senate races are statewide, and the broad bipartisan support this has could make it a decisive issue – if people get out there and turn up the volume.  Spoiler alert,  making it happen won’t come from either party’s leadership.  It’s up to us.

5. Health Care: Medicare For All

The bottom line: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told Axios in December that Democrats' “next step is to stop tinkering with a broken [healthcare] system.”   This year, Bernie Sanders and 120 members of Congress re-introduced the Medicare For All Act. 

This tees up a key battle between progressives and corporate Democrats. Progressive Senate candidates are making MFA a key issue in their primaries, and saying the crowd goes wild when they bring it up.   The fact that tens of millions of Americans stand to lose healthcare soon because of cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare subsidies will make it as white-hot as an issue can get.

According to Pew, most Americans (66%) say the federal government has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage. 35% say there should be a “single national heath care system,” while 31% say there should be a mix of public and private providers.  In Europe, all countries have some form of universal health care, while private providers are integrated to various degrees.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Medicare for All would save our health care system $650 billion a year. Further, researchers at Yale University have estimated that Medicare for All would save 68,000 lives a year.

Politico quotes Mark Longabaugh, a progressive strategist who worked on Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid: “There’s immense hostility and anger toward the way the insurance industry functions, doubled up with health care itself being one of the biggest affordability issues…Progressives are smart to push the case.”