Voters aren’t tuning out because they don’t care. They’re tuning out because they’ve been exhausted by fake choices, sold out by both parties, and tired of inauthenticity.
As the income gap between rich and poor continues to grow, dollar and 99-cent stores have become increasingly popular in both urban and rural America. (Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
Last week, a short video of one of my speeches rapidly spread online. It’s now passed 8 million views and 707k likes across TikTok and Instagram. I was shocked, because it was rather simple testimony from “the People’s Hearing” in North Carolina. In it, I talked about pollution, corporate greed, and a united working class.
Most surprisingly, it wasn’t just progressives sharing it. Its most enthusiastic audience included white working-class men in Appalachia, Native aunties in the Southwest, Filipino union workers in the Midwest, and mothers who once backed Obama, then Bernie, then RFK, then Trump. Some Christian GOP voters said the speech moved them to tears—despite its unmistakenly progressive solutions. This Tiktok comment from my video received 21.6k likes, many from conservative-leaning accounts “We need this man in American politics. We have allowed corporations to have too much power.”
Here in Hawaii, even some of my most vocal conservative critics—people who had opposed every campaign I’ve ever run—shared the video with praise. Not because they suddenly changed their views, but because they felt heard. They recognized something in the message that aligned with their values: pride in place, a sense of responsibility to community, and the belief that regular people deserve clean air, safe water, and control over their own lives.
The reaction confirmed what I’ve believed for years: many of the voters Democrats have written off were never really conservative at heart. They’re change voters. And we still have a chance to win them back.
I Was 23, Running in a Conservative District. I Told the Truth, and Won.I learned this firsthand when I was elected to the Hawaiʻi State House at 23. I was a long-shot Democrat running in one of the state’s most conservative districts. My opponent was a well-funded Republican incumbent. The consultants told me to play it safe and avoid controversial topics. I didn’t listen.
Instead, I talked openly about Monsanto spraying restricted-use pesticides near schools in our community. I talked about kids getting sick, about contaminated water, and about standing up to corporate power. I didn’t frame it as left or right. I framed it as common sense. And rural, working-class voters responded.
I won that race by telling the truth, not by pretending to be moderate but by showing people I was on their side. That’s still the formula we need today. These Voters Aren’t Confused. They’re Consistent.
We often hear that the working class has become politically unpredictable. That voters who backed Obama, then Bernie, then Trump are flip-floppers or driven by misinformation. I don’t see it that way. These voters are remarkably consistent. They want someone who will fight for them, who will name what’s wrong, and who isn’t afraid of the powerful.
When I talk to people who say they “lean right,” they usually just mean they’ve lost faith in the Democrats. So I ask what they actually believe. Most support taxing corporations, breaking up monopolies, ending endless wars, and protecting the environment. These aren’t conservative ideas. They’re progressive ones. But without a clear, honest voice from the left making that case, people will follow anyone who sounds like they care. Even if that person turns out to be a fraud.
The truth is, a lot of organizers, advocates, and especially Democratic politicians have forgotten how to talk to people like people. We sound like press releases or policy panels. We speak in language built for funders or Twitter—not for barbecues or break rooms. When people don’t feel seen or spoken to, they stop listening. Trump Didn’t Just Win. He Transformed His Party.
Before Donald Trump won the presidency, he had to take over the Republican Party. And he did it by running to the economic left of the GOP establishment—opposing NAFTA, bashing Wall Street bankers, and promising to end endless wars.
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It wasn’t honest, but it was strategic. He channeled people’s economic pain into a nationalist message and went straight to places Democrats had ignored. While our side clung to cities and elite credentials, he surrounded himself with rural working-class voters. He went into their towns and told them, “I see you.” And even though most of it was a con, they listened, because no one else had.
Trump actually built the “multiracial working-class movement” we talk about. He took a strategy that should’ve been ours: build power from the forgotten places; speak boldly, and demand big change. And we’re still playing catch-up. Rootedness Doesn’t Have to Mean Exclusion
The MAGA movement taps into nationalism, and the Left often recoils from it. And for good reason. Nationalism, as we’ve seen it deployed, has often meant exclusion, fear, and violence. But we can’t ignore the emotional terrain it exploits.
People want to belong to something. They want to be proud of where they’re from, to feel like they have a stake in their homeland. That’s not inherently right-wing. It’s human. In Indigenous communities, we often say, “Our ancestors are in this land,” or “Our bones are in the soil.” That’s not nationalism in the MAGA sense. It’s a deep sense of place and purpose. And it’s why some Native people hear rhetoric about pride and protection and feel drawn to it, even if the politics behind it are fundamentally opposed to their values.
The same is true for many immigrants. In their home countries, national pride is woven into everyday life, not as supremacy but as identity and dignity. When they come here and the only people talking about pride are on the right, it’s not hard to see why some gravitate in that direction.
The left doesn’t need to adopt nationalism. But we do need to tap into the emotional power of pride and protection while still being inclusive and welcoming of the broader society. We can speak to people’s need for rootedness while building solidarity with the global working class.
That’s what I tried to do in this speech. Obama-style pluralism, Bernie-style substance. A message that centers land, labor, and love, and makes room for everyone. What Works in New York Can Work in Rural Towns, if We Listen
In New York City, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is winning on a bold agenda: free public transit, rent control, childcare. His success isn’t just about the policies. It’s the moral clarity behind them. He speaks with conviction, and it cuts through the noise.
That same clarity can work in rural places too—but the message has to match the setting. In many small towns, affordability isn’t the leading concern. What resonates more is land, identity, and the idea of bringing back the village. Literally and spiritually.
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Say, “Let’s return land to locals, not developers.” Say, “Let’s build food systems where families can farm and fish again.” Say, “You deserve to raise your kids where you were raised.” That’s the emotional truth. And if we match it with real policy, we’ll win. Four Things the Left Can Do to Win These Voters Back
1. Call out corporate power, clearly and consistently. People know who’s robbing them. Wages are flat, costs are up, and corporations are raking in record profits. If Democrats don’t name the problem, they’re complicit.
2. Make the environment personal. Don’t talk about carbon offsets. Talk about asthma, poisoned wells, and places where the water isn’t safe to drink. People care about the land. Speak to that.
3. Say “working class,” and mean everyone. Black, white, Native, immigrant, red states, blue states: Everyone deserves dignity. Solidarity doesn’t mean ignoring differences. It means organizing across them.
4. Offer real, commonsense solutions. Free transit. Rent control. Anti-monopoly. Childcare. Land back. Local food and energy. These aren’t fringe ideas. They’re just good ones, and people are hungry for them.
The reason this speech went viral wasn’t me. It was the moment. People aren’t tuning out because they don’t care. They’re tuning out because they’ve been exhausted by fake choices, sold out by both parties, and tired of inauthenticity.
They’re not waiting for a savior. They’re waiting for something real. Something that cuts through the noise, tells the truth, and gives them a reason to hope again.
Let’s stop writing off the working class. Let’s start writing them back in.
Kaniela IngTwitterKaniela Ing is national director of Green New Deal Network and cofounder of Our Hawaiʻi. He works to build movements that unite working people across race, geographies, and partisan divides.