USA TODAY interviewed more than a dozen people in two small towns in Virginia, Kilmarnock and Irvington, to get their thoughts on the Democratic Party brand.
Virginia voters ask Democrats to prioritize affordability and youth
USA TODAY’s Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy hears how Virginia voters are urging Democrats to refocus on affordability and youth leadership.
KILMARNOCK, Va. – If Democrats want to bounce back from the 2024 election debacle in 2026, they need to win the support of voters like Valérie Rancourt.
Rancourt and her husband, Mike, voted for President Barack Obama twice, but left the party in 2016, 2020 and 2024, voting for President Donald Trump. New Hampshire retirees who moved to rural Virginia’s Northern Neck, nestled between the Rappahannock River and the Chesapeake Bay, also voted Republican in Virginia’s Nov. 4 gubernatorial election.
Walking down Kilmarnock’s main street on a sunny Monday afternoon, the day before the election, they made it clear that many things would need to happen for the Democratic Party to redeem itself, including abandoning “woke” policies and stopping illegal immigration. Neither believes that will happen anytime soon.
“Democrats are getting a lot of things wrong,” said Valerie Rancourt, 67. “Democrats, in my opinion, have become so hateful that they no longer vote for what’s best for this country. They’re lax when it comes to illegal immigration.”
Democrats’ hopes of taking back Congress in next year’s midterm elections and the White House in 2028 depend in part on winning back disaffected Democrats and voters who once supported Obama but defected to Trump in the 2016 and 2024 elections.
Most of Kilmarnock, a town of about 1,400 people, is in Lancaster County, a reliably Republican county. But the county is turning blue as retirees move in from Democratic-leaning Northern Virginia and throughout the Northeast.
The Rancourt family moved to nearby Leadville to escape New Hampshire’s cold winters and be closer to the water. Before retiring, Valerie ran a shop in New Hampshire and Mike, 71, worked as a professional engineer.
According to 2023 census data, the average household income in Kilmarnock is just over $31,000, with approximately 30% of the population living below the poverty line.
Valerie Rancourt said President Trump resonated with her when he said in 2016 that illegal immigration was the biggest problem facing the country. Trump stood out among the 17 people vying for the Republican nomination.
“I think he loves this country. I think people are voting for what they want right now, not what’s right for this country,” she said. “And I think what’s changed about the Democratic Party.”
Her husband, Mike, said that while “care is a good thing” the government cannot afford to illegally provide medical care to people in the country.
Although this is a frequent Republican line of attack, Congressional Democrats do not support providing health care to immigrants who are not in the country legally. Last year, former President Joe Biden’s administration allowed children who entered the country illegally to enroll in Obamacare health insurance. President Trump withdrew that plan earlier this year.
It will be an uphill battle to win back voters like the Rancourts.
“To be honest, I don’t really know how I became a Republican. It seems like Democrats don’t love this country anymore,” Valerie Rancourt said. “They almost seem to hate it.”
Alluding to issues such as identity politics and President Trump’s opposition to transgender athletes playing in women’s sports, she said, “I think we need to rethink things like the word normal. We don’t use those words anymore. It’s like there’s nothing abnormal about it. I don’t think we’re going to go back[to the Democratic Party]now.”
USA TODAY spoke to more than a dozen people in Kilmarnock and the nearby town of Irvington, a town of about 500 people, to get their thoughts on the Democratic Party brand. Their prescription for Democrats included a plea to stop focusing on identity politics, inject young blood into the party and talk about affordability issues that affect Americans.
In the first election since Trump took office in January, Democrats won an overwhelming victory, with Representatives Abigail Spanberger (46) and Mikie Sherrill (53) elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey, respectively. In New York City, Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani, 34, has emerged as the left’s new darling.
All three candidates ran on the platform of affordability and largely avoided social issues.
But voters here haven’t changed their impressions of the party, and polls show Democrats are struggling with that perception nationally.
In a recent four-day Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll, 68% of respondents agreed that Democrats “disagreed,” compared to 61% when it came to Republicans.
A Pew Research Center survey in September found that 67% of Democrats say their party feels frustrated, far more than the roughly half who said so in 2021 and 2019.
No politics on election night
Things were quiet on election night in Kilmarnock.
The town’s two bars on West Church Street, Nacho Average Brewpub and That Damn Mary Brewery, both closed by 8 p.m.
There were no noisy watch parties.
“New Year’s Eve is no different,” said Nacho Average Brewpub owner and town manager Sean Donahue. “It’s within driving distance, it’s dark at night, and there are elderly people.”
Like many people in Kilmarnock and surrounding towns, Donahue himself is an immigrant from the Washington, D.C., area. When he arrived 30 years ago, the county was 70-30 Republican.
At least for the town of Kilmarnock, he says, “it’s now closer to a 50-50 split.”
In nearby Irvington, only a lone eatery called The Office Bistro remained open.
When a reporter asked if he could switch the TV channel above the bar to election news, he was told “news” was off-limits. Even after the election results are announced, sports will likely remain a hot topic.
On November 4, Lancaster County supported Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earl Sears, who received 55% of the vote. Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger led the state with 57% of the vote, but only 45% in Lancaster County.
Some Republican voters in Lancaster County saw the Democrats’ good night as a referendum on Trump as the government shutdown continues.
“It was a shock to everyone,” Donahue said. “We didn’t expect the Democratic Party to take such a big hit across the country.” “I think that was more of an actual command to Trump than anything else.”
Trump is also suffering from low approval ratings. The latest Economist/YouGov poll shows President Trump’s approval rating at 39%.
But if Democrats are to win a House majority in 2026, they may need to improve their own image. And voters here say there’s work to be done. Many still see them as out-of-touch, too socially liberal, and unable to understand how essential economic issues affect ordinary Americans.
“The Democratic Party has self-destructed. The Democratic Party has almost been destroyed by not focusing on things that matter to working Americans,” said Linda Rowell, 77, sitting at a campaign volunteer desk outside Irvington Baptist Church on Election Day. The town is approximately 6.5 kilometers from Kilmarnock.
Lowell said after the election that he was encouraged by the results, but credited them to a “broad bipartisan movement to protect our democracy.” She was referring to Trump’s aggressive expansion of executive power, including imposing significant tariffs, prosecuting political opponents and stripping power from independent regulatory agencies.
“What’s happening now transcends partisan lines,” Rowell said. He is currently an independent but leans toward the Democratic Party.
“It’s independent, it’s Republican like the Lincoln (Project) people,” he added of the anti-Trump advocacy group founded by former Republican officials and strategists. “People who remember what is written in the Constitution.”
Is it President Trump’s policy or just his attitude?
The most impressive building on Main Street is Chandler’s Firearms Estate, a gun store on the corner of East Church Street. The two-story white brick building, with its flat roof and letters such as “AMMO” written vertically on the side, is reminiscent of a Wild West saloon. The store sells new, used and antique firearms, waterfowl hunting decoy ducks, apparel and accessories. There are gift shops, clothing stores, electronics stores and several restaurants down the street.
East Church Street is home to the Kilmarnock Inn, a converted 1884 house. The 16-room inn, which has seven cottages, all named after seven presidents born in Virginia, is also owned by Donahue.
The morning after the election, Donahue said he had a meeting with six business owners. No one thought that President Trump’s policies were the cause of the Republican Party’s defeat. He said everyone agreed this was “the way the president should behave.”
“It’s not about tariffs or anything else,” Donahue said. “That means every time he speaks, he’s still talking about Biden, nine months after the election.”
Can Democrats regain their mojo?
According to a recent report from the liberal group American Bridge, “working-class voters perceive the Democratic Party to be too woke, weak, and insensitive, focused too much on social issues and not enough on economic issues that affect everyone.”
Lorraine McCauley and her husband, Jeff, moved from Poughkeepsie, New York, 90 minutes north of New York City, to the nearby river town of Colonial Beach several years ago.
The day before the election, a retired Democratic couple were walking down Kilmarnock’s main street.
Back in New York, Lorraine Macaulay, 71, works in retail advertising and her husband Jeff, 73, is a social worker.
When asked how she felt about the Democratic Party, Lorraine said it was difficult to say what their priorities were.
“You get information from Facebook and online money calls, but nothing about what they’re doing or what they’re planning,” Lorraine said. “I think they need to brand themselves better and not just be the opposite of President Trump’s actions.”
Her husband said he was glad that Democrats “didn’t relent” in budget negotiations, even though the government should be built on compromise.
“If the Republicans were just in complete control, they wouldn’t talk about anything else,” he said.
As for what the Democratic Party needs to do to strengthen its brand, he said, “The Democratic Party needs to encourage or allow more youth participation.”
Rowell said the Democratic Party’s emphasis and emphasis on gender, identity and pronouns is outsized in terms of the party’s priorities.
“Pronouns and all that. There was no need to embody that into everyone’s policy positions,” she said. “It needs to be addressed, but it’s not a big issue.”
Angelina Manyak, 37, who runs an oyster farm on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband, said she hasn’t voted for a major party candidate in years. She usually votes for third-party candidates.
“Overall, I think all parties disagree on a lot of things. I think both parties are missing the point,” she said. “They’re not meeting people where they are.”
For example, when it comes to education, she says, politicians don’t have a deeper discussion beyond talking in general terms about pro-public schools and charter schools.
“They don’t get to the heart of what children need from the education system,” Manyak said. “I think there’s a lot that’s missing, whether it’s outdoor time or the type of food that is provided to our students.”
As a farmer, she has also seen the plight of other farmers who depend on illegal immigrant workers. Their workers live in fear of ICE raids, she said.
“Children are afraid of coming home to an empty house without their parents,” she says. “In my opinion, that is unacceptable in American society.”
The issue could tilt the 2026 midterm elections in favor of Democrats, she said.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is USA TODAY’s White House correspondent. You can follow her at X @SwapnaVenugopal.
