NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� For a day, at least, Democrats across the country have a sense that their comeback against President may have begun.
It wasn't just about the election results in Wisconsin, where Democratic-backed won a 10-point victory against Trump and favored candidate for the state Supreme Court.
Some Democrats highlighted New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker鈥檚 as a rallying point for frustrated voters. Others pointed to congressional Democrats lining up with a handful of House Republican lawmakers to that would have stopped a proposal for new parents in Congress to able to .
The series of victories gave Democratic leaders moments of relief and vindication of their with Musk and other billionaires. That鈥檚 even as some party officials warned that it was far too early to draw sweeping conclusions from a series of lower-turnout off-year elections with polls still showing that the among key groups of voters.
鈥淓lon Musk and Donald Trump are on the ropes,鈥� charged Ken Martin, the newly elected chair of the Democratic National Committee. 鈥淲e're just getting started.鈥�
Wisconsin gave Democrats a much-needed win
Democrats have had little to cheer about in the five months since Trump won a in which he peeled away a significant portion of and people of color. And in more recent weeks, the party鈥檚 activist base has become increasingly frustrated that Democratic leaders have not done more to stop Trump鈥檚 unprecedented push to slash the federal government and the reshape the economy.
Democrats in Washington and in state capitals across the country privately conceded that a bad night, especially in Wisconsin, would have been devastating.
Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, lost to liberal-backed Crawford in a relative blowout, five months after Trump carried Wisconsin by less than 1 point.
And in Florida, Republicans in two of the most pro-Trump House districts in the country, but both candidates significantly underperformed Trump鈥檚 November margins.
鈥淚 went to bed last night feeling uplifted and relieved,鈥� Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna Repass said Wednesday.
Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., predicted further political consequences for Republicans if they don鈥檛 resist the sweeping cuts to government services enacted by Musk and Trump.
鈥淚n swing districts, if I was a Republican, I would either decide how to stand up for your constituents or find out how to get a discount on adult depends, because one or the other is what you鈥檙e going to be needing to do,鈥� Pocan said.
Rebecca Cooke, a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin鈥檚 3rd congressional district, said the election was a clear indication that voters are upset with how Trump and Musk 鈥渁re messing with their lives.鈥� But she stopped short of projecting confidence in future elections.
鈥淲e have work to do to build long term infrastructure in this party and to really build trust back with voters that I think have felt left behind by the Democratic Party,鈥� said Cooke, a 37-year-old waitress who is running against GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden. 鈥淚 think it takes time to build trust with voters, and it can鈥檛 happen overnight, and it can鈥檛 happen in just one election.鈥�
Expect more Democratic talking points about Musk
In this week鈥檚 successes, Democratic officials believe they have confirmed the effectiveness of their core message heading into the 2026 midterms that Trump and his billionaire allies are working for the rich at the expense of the working class.
Indeed, talking points distributed by the Democratic National Committee on Wednesday reinforced that notion while pointing to what the committee described as 鈥渁n undeniable trend鈥� after recent lower-profile Democratic victories in Virginia, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Minnesota.
鈥淚n 2025, Democrats continue to overperform in special elections as voters send a resounding message: They want Democrats to fight for them, and they want the Trump-Musk agenda out of their communities,鈥� the talking points read.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., told the AP Wednesday that the election results showed that the public is 鈥渙utraged鈥� by chaos and dysfunction coming from the Trump administration. The chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Trump and Republicans in Congress are failing to fix high prices and seeking Medicaid cuts, in addition to supporting tariffs that could worsen inflation for families.
鈥淲hat we saw yesterday in Florida and Wisconsin was Republicans running scared because the American people are angry and scared about the direction the Trump-Musk agenda is taking us,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e seeing prices go up. They鈥檙e seeing more and more the focus is not on them, but on Trump and his wealthy donors.鈥�
More protests are to come
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of voters are expected to attend more than 1,000 so-called 鈥淗ands Off!鈥� related protests nationwide focused on Trump and Musk. More than 150 political groups worked together to organize what will almost certainly represent the single biggest day of protest of the second Trump administration.
The Washington event, which will feature Reps. , D-Fla., and , D-Md., already has more than 12,000 RSVPs, according to organizers.
Meanwhile, Booker is planning to attend a series of unrelated public events, including a town hall in New Jersey this weekend.
His office reports receiving 28,000 voicemails since he finished his speech shortly after 8 p.m. on Tuesday. At its peak, the 25-hour address was being streamed by more than 300,000 people across Booker鈥檚 social media channels. It earned more than 350 million likes on his newly formed TikTok account.
A spokesperson said that the Democratic senator spent much of Wednesday sleeping.
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Associated Press writers Josh Boak and Leah Askarinam in Washington and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin contributed reporting.
Steve Peoples, The Associated Press
