Republicans have a sprawling messaging machine. Democrats must, too Lloyd P. Trufelman

With the 2025 election season now wrapping up and 2026 midterms approaching, Democrats are searching for ways to reconnect with voters after their 2024 defeats. Policy ideas abound, but the real challenge isn’t policy or even messaging—it’s media. Democrats and their allies must build a media infrastructure of their own to start winning again.

Over a decade ago, I wrote in The Economist that democracy was losing momentum because of the collapse of traditional news. Mass media once created a shared “commons of public opinion,” moderated by professional journalists. Today, that commons has splintered into a chaotic environment where misinformation thrives and common facts are elusive.

Republicans have spent decades building a sprawling integrated right-wing media ecosystem consisting of t