House Democrats’ ‘United’ Retreat Collides With Party Fissures

House Democrats will spend their three-day retreat this week trying to unite to take on President Donald Trump and win back the majority in 2026 — all while fractures are evident across the party.

The bulk of the caucus will head to Leesburg, Va. today for House Democrats’ annual Issues Conference, where they’ll aim to cobble together a strategy to counter Trump and begin testing messaging for 2026 mid-terms. The retreat, themed “United to Win,” comes a few months after elections left Democrats in the House and Senate minorities and adrift.

Democrats have yet to find their footing against Trump. The response to Trump’s joint address to Congress was largely mocked and one Democratic member, Rep. Al Green of Texas, was censured with some Democratic support for shouting at the president. They party has failed to defeat Republicans on any significant votes, including last night’s stop gap spending bill, even after spending days railing against it. Their only victories have come in court orders blocking Trump policies, not on Capitol Hill.

Still, just a handful of competitive races could allow Democrats to win back the House in midterm elections, where Republicans currently hold a 218-214 edge.

“It’s an opportunity for us to come together and talk about all the work that we’ve done and the work we’re going to do,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), who leads House Democrats’ campaign arm and is expected to talk about some of the districts the party will target in 2026. She said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has had strong off-year fundraising.

Part of Democrats’ conference will be an audition for candidates to lead the party. The party’s identity crisis isn’t helped by the lack of a clear answer on who speaks for Democrats nationally.

Last year, that was obvious: then-President Joe Biden, at the time Democrats’ 2024 presidential candidate, spoke for the party and headlined the issues conference. Now, it’s less clear.

Governors to Speak

House Democrats will hear from three of the party’s gubernatorial stars this week: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

“We’ll have robust opportunities to get together and hear from each other” at the retreat, said Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.). Aguilar didn’t provide an exact number of attendees, but said Democratic leaders reached their goal of RSVPs — though some members said they only plan to drive down for part of the three-day conference.

Members from the left and center of the party, union leaders and various media experts will have speaking roles, including longtime Democratic strategist James Carville. The former Bill Clinton campaign manager is sure to spark a discussion over how best to counter Trump, since he’s repeatedly advised Democrats to “play dead” and allow House Republicans to embarrass themselves.

“Do you want to go and bang canes at the State of the Union, flash auction signs, or do you want to have a dignified and determined response to the absolute threat this poses to the United States?” Carville said on MSNBC Tuesday.

His comments specifically target members of the House Democratic caucus who visibly protested Trump’s joint address. Some of those members will speak at the conference too, reflecting possible rifts over messaging.

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), who wore a shirt that said “No Kings Live Here” at Trump’s address and walked out before it ended, will be on a panel at the retreat with other Democratic Policy and Communications Committee leaders.

“I disagree with it,” Frost said of Carville’s op-ed. “But the caucus likes to have people who have different schools of thought come together to help inform us on what they think we need to do.”