977: Public Gospel
Fun at the second WelcomeFest gathering of Democrats focused on winning
“Fun” is the final word in The New York Times article about WelcomeFest.
And it was!
Politico’s story had some good words, too:
The answer to Democrats’ troubles at WelcomeFest, the moderate Democrats’ Coachella, include: purity tests are toxic, being unpopular on the social media site Bluesky is cool and winning again means running to the center.
That’s the gospel speakers preached on stage Wednesday in the basement of a Washington, D.C., hotel, where hundreds of centrist elected officials, candidates and operatives gathered to commiserate over the 2024 election results and chart their version of the path forward for the Democratic Party.
Gospel is a translation of the Greek euangelion, eu meaning “good” and angelion meaning “message” or “news.”
I’m not gonna do the etymology of Coachella, but there were certainly plenty of good messages.
And great messengers:
Wednesday’s daylong conference, which represented a who’s-who of center-left Democratic politics, from analytics guru David Shor to Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin to New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, was the latest sign that moderate Democrats believe they are ascendant in the party, looking to influence its posture heading into the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential primary. Seven of the 12 House Democrats who won in Trump districts last year participated in the event, including Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Adam Gray of California.
Semafor’s
made a helpful analogy:WelcomeFest, which had grown exponentially since its first in-person conference last year, put a conversation that has been unfolding in exclusive donor retreats in front of a public audience — selling tickets that topped out at $25.
Good news for a bigger audience. And 977 days to grow until the 2028 presidential primary.