If the elections of 2016 and 2024 tell us anything, it is that the Democratic Party has yet to figure out the appeal that Trump and the MAGA movement have had on working-class Americans. There is no area of the country where this is more true than the “Rust Belt” region, formerly known as the American “Steel Belt”.  This region comprises multiple states across the Midwest and Northeastern parts of the U.S., including Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois, West Virginia, and parts of New York and New Jersey. For more than a century, this area of the U.S was one of the most economically prosperous parts of the country and was a key part of the American Industrial Revolution, with many key industries such as steel, automobile production, and coal mining. For more than a century, the Democratic Party also experienced immense success in courting the many working-class families that lived in this area. In the 1930s and 1940s, the success of the FDR coalition relied on their pro-working-class and pro-union message that resonated greatly with these voters. Due to this success in this economically prosperous part of the U.S, nearly every Democratic candidate for President has relied on the support of the Steel/Rust belt voting bloc every presidential election year. Though religious and social issues turned many of these states to the Republican party, from 1992 to 2016, the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin went for every Democratic Presidential candidate from Clinton to Obama. With the election of 2016, however, the key to Trump’s shocking victory over Hillary Clinton was flipping many of these voters over to the GOP. Despite the outcomes of the elections in 2016 and 2024, former President Biden showed that parts of the Rust Belt, primarily the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, could still be brought back into the Democratic fold. In order to ensure that these long-time Democratic areas come back to the party and abandon the MAGA movement, there are many steps the Democratic Party must take. 

Since 2016, it is clear that the voters who flipped to Trump have completely lost confidence in the Democratic Party. The truth is that these people feel abandoned by the party they supported so much before because they have been abandoned. The Democratic Party used to be the main representative force for the working class, but their messaging in recent elections would say otherwise. In 2016, many of the working-class Democrats who went for Trump were no fans of Trump’s rhetoric or antics. However,  between Trump and Clinton in 2016, Trump was the only candidate that year who was talking about what the people desperately wanted to hear about: Jobs. In his 2016 article for Politico Magazine, journalist Keith O’Brien sounded the alarm of this fact to his readers and to the Democratic party as a whole. He highlighted the plight of voters in Cambria County of Pennsylvania, and the appeal Trump had over Clinton, despite their concerns with him on a personal level. This example with Cambria County echoed throughout many of the other hollowed-out and desperate rural and urban communities across the Rust Belt. Despite these growing shifts of Democratic voters to Trump, the Clinton campaign did not give the Rust Belt the attention it needed or develop a proper communication strategy to counter the Trump Campaign in these states. Though Hillary Clinton had the experience and the Clinton name, none of that mattered if she didn’t show the people of the Rust Belt that their dire economic situation mattered to her and to the entire Democratic party.

The Democratic Party cannot immediately reverse the decline that the Rust Belt has experienced in the last several decades. They cannot reverse all of the pain and duress that these long-time blue-collar Democrats have experienced, but they can chart a path forward that includes bringing the working class into the broad coalition that the Democrats are continually building. The first step to rectifying this is to admit to the people of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and all other parts of the rust belt that the Democratic party lost sight of what made it a strong political force in the first place- the working class peoples that made America the richest country in the world. Looking back on U.S. political history, it is clear that the Democratic Party would possibly not exist today without the support of and for the working class. It is time to admit to these people that we know we’ve lost their confidence because we lost sight of their struggles. We need to first recognize this fact and promise to these people that we will not leave them behind again. We need to offer the working classes a seat at the table, essentially, and bring them into the Democratic coalition once again. President Biden did this to a degree when he joined striking United Auto Workers on their picket line in 2023. While this was a truly symbolic gesture towards supporting working-class Americans, this is a job that a President cannot do alone. This should become a staple that Democrats in all elected positions should be doing regularly. This is the only way to show American workers that Democrats are on their side. 

To bring these long-time democrats back into the fold, the Democratic party must shift the prioritization from winning the presidency every four years to securing local and state-level elections. As important as the office of the Presidency is, it was clear during President Biden’s term that long-term change cannot be achieved by prioritizing the Presidency and U.S Congressional races alone. Real, long-term change for all parts of the country begins from the bottom of the ticket to the top. The Democratic party must turn a lot more attention to local and state-level elections and also find more candidates with working-class backgrounds. Despite the shift towards Trump, there are still many individuals in states such as Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania who have remained loyal to the Democratic party despite feeling abandoned. It is time to tap into these people and essentially call for them to step up and do their part to bring the Rust Belt back to its former glory. In order to bring about lasting change for their states and communities, these working-class individuals must run for office with the Democratic Party to bring about that change. These individuals must run for every office available, from City Councilships to Mayorships, to State Representatives and State Senators. With a force of candidates with working-class backgrounds behind a united, cohesive pro-working-class message, the Democratic Party would slowly but surely win back the confidence of these hard-working individuals. 

Many reasons can be attributed to the decline of the Steel Belt into the Rust Belt. The negative effects of globalization on many industries and the working-class people who worked in them have not been talked about enough by the Democratic Party. With increased foreign competition in the steel, automobile, and renewable energy markets, the local economies of entire communities have collapsed, leaving many jobless in the Rust Belt. For the steel industry, for example, China is now the number one producer of steel in the world. With the automobile industry, cities such as Detroit saw a slow and steady decline in automobile production jobs, which relocated to China, India, and Mexico. This, in turn, only led to more economic despair of the working class and pushed them to look for a viable alternative that would attempt to push back against American job losses. With this slow and steady economic downturn in this region came a slow and steady rise in alcoholism, opioid addiction, and suicide rates. These issues made many of these communities into shadows of their former selves. Even today, if you were to walk through Gary, Indiana, or Flint, Michigan, you would see abandoned houses, families in despair, and an increase in crime. Though there are clear positive effects resulting from increased globalization, many of these effects have not been felt in the Rust Belt for decades. The Democratic Party has looked completely out of touch with the reality that many of these people are facing. From 2016 to today, the messaging from the party has been particularly weak when reaching out to Independents and other swing voters. This messaging has usually revolved around presenting the party as “not Trump” and has failed to focus on presenting a viable alternative to voters. 

Another revolution taking place now is the renewable energy market and transition away from other power sources such as coal. The Rust Belt used to be famous for its coal mining output, which allowed hundreds of thousands of working-class Americans to make a good living. With the transition away from coal and into non-renewable sources, many working-class Americans in Pennsylvania and West Virginia found themselves out of work. While the transition from coal and other dirtier sources of energy production is necessary to fight climate change and save the planet, it’s hard to describe that necessity to someone whose coal mine closed and with it their ability to support their families. This is yet another example of people feeling left behind since many Democratic policies led to this increased transition from coal to renewable energy. Democrats ripped the rug from under their feet and didn’t give them viable alternatives to make a living. The Democratic Party of old would have ensured that these people were taken care of and allowed to transition into new industries that could make use of their skills. It’s no wonder that many of these people were willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt again when he mentioned how tariffs would help revitalize American industry. Instead of leaving the working-class behind, these developing industries have an opportunity to rebuild the industrial heart of America. Though industries like coal and steel are unlikely to make a major comeback in the near future, the Green Revolution presents a multitude of possibilities. With the right commitment and investment, who is to stop the revitalization of the Rust Belt into something new? Factories that have long lain vacant in areas all over the Rust Belt could be repaired and upgraded to produce solar panels and wind turbines. A plethora of jobs would be needed to bring this area of the country back to its former glory. The first step would be to bring back the infrastructure, and the second would be to build an energy sector that not only saves the planet in the long run, it also saves the working class of these states. It will take a while before the Rust Belt is revitalized, but the first step is often the most important. 

If there is one significant event that can give Democrats hope for the future, it was the election of Joe Biden in 2020. Though it was clearly a referendum on Trump and the chaos caused during his first presidential term, Biden showed that people of the Rust Belt swing states could be brought back into the Democratic party. Though this support was once again lost in 2024, it was clear the Democrats did not do enough during Biden’s term to win back confidence in the party as a whole. Despite all of the finger-pointing and blaming of President Biden and his administration, it is clear that Democrats are experiencing a system-wide crisis in confidence. This crisis comes at a time when the Democratic party should be seen as an outlier to the chaos that the Trump administration has caused throughout the country. Democrats can’t rely fully on the candidate they run at the top of the ticket. The “Scranton Joe” image may have won Biden the White House in 2020, but it was not enough to keep Trump out of the White House a second time. President Biden should be commended for temporarily regaining the confidence of many working-class Americans in the swing states of the Rust Belt. He can also take credit for implementing a number of policies and supporting numerous legislative proposals that will benefit working-class Americans in the Rust Belt. If Democrats truly want to avoid another heartbreak, such as Kamala Harris’ loss in 2024, they need to make big changes to the Party’s image, priorities, and communication strategy. 

With 4 assured years of further chaos under the 2nd Trump Administration, Democrats will have a plethora of opportunities to win back the American Rust Belt as well as working-class Americans of all regions and demographics. Winning back the voters of the American Rust Belt and revitalizing this economic area is about more than just winning back this voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Winning back the Rust Belt would also represent a symbolic shift for the party and could win back working-class voters in other parts of the country, as well as win back the losses from Black and Latino working-class voters that went for Trump in 2024. The first test for Democrats in the Rust Belt and other parts of the country comes during the 2026 midterms. The Trump Administration is doing everything possible to lose the confidence of the people who voted them back into office in 2024, and now it’s time for Democrats to take advantage, not only for themselves but also to revitalize the areas of the country that felt abandoned over the last few decades.