U.S. Democrats Ride Trains, Buses to Spotlight Spending Push

Democrats are riding buses and trains and holding roundtable discussions this summer as they make the case that a government spending blitz backed by President Joe Biden is improving voters’ lives ahead of 2022 congressional elections.

In New Jersey last week, Representative Tom Malinowski rode a train with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to highlight the benefits of a $1 trillion infrastructure package that he said would upgrade train service, roads and bridges and water pipes in the state.

“There’s not a town among the 75 towns I represent that won’t benefit in some way,” Malinowski said at a news conference in the town of Westfield, a New York City suburb.

The party’s pitch is getting a road test ahead of the November 2022 congressional elections. Democrats control the House of Representatives and the Senate by narrow margins and are acutely aware of the real risk of losing that majority next year.

A memo from senior House Democrats stressed that the party’s message “must stay laser-focused on the substance of what we are getting done and how it will make life better for the people we serve.”