Democrats ignoring 'biggest political issue' of 2028 race: strategist

Democrats are ignoring the “biggest political issue” that will define the 2028 elections — an issue with long-range consequences — a prominent political strategist warns.

Artificial intelligence — and its effects on the workforce and the economy — is a phenomenon about which some Republicans have started to sound the alarm, says Kamala Harris’s 2024 deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty. But the Democratic Party needs to be better prepared, he writes in a New York Times op-ed.

“Being told you have no agency over a force that will reshape your job prospects, your community and your family’s future is a recipe for backlash,” writes Flaherty. “Democrats shouldn’t dismiss that anger. We should be the party that channels it and does something about it.”

“The coming A.I. revolution threatens the urban professional class that constitutes a central pillar of its political coalition — which already seems too small to win a national election,” he warns. “Democrats have a chance to unite the unemployed 25-year-old software engineer in Tucson, Ariz., and the underemployed middle-age autoworker in Detroit in a coalition big enough to win nationally and locally.”

Flaherty points to the chief executive of Anthropic, Dario Amodei, who “has predicted that artificial intelligence could displace half of all entry-level white collar jobs within five years. Already, layoffs are on the rise. Recent college grads are struggling to find work. And even for those of us fortunate enough to be employed, our retirement savings are increasingly dependent on the fortunes of a small handful of high-growth tech companies.”

Democrats have an opening with A.I., he says. “Americans feel pessimistic about A.I. Polling indicates that they are much more concerned than excited about the increasing use of A.I. in their lives.”

The 2028 elections, “set against the backdrop of discontent with A.I., will provide an opportunity to campaign against Big Tech’s excesses and a Republican Party that has enabled them.”

Flaherty sees A.I. as an opportunity to reimagine America’s “social bargain.” Who’s in charge? Who benefits? Who are we as a nation? He says these are the questions Democrats should be asking — and “letting voters know how we answer them.”

Democrats, he adds, need to “monopolize” the issue of artificial intelligence, “lest we risk losing voters we take for granted.”

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