By Molly English, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on her party Monday to “read the room” and begin appealing to a wider swath of the working-class public by keeping a stringent focus on the economy.

“Americans are stretched to the breaking point financially, and they will vote for candidates who name what is wrong and who credibly demonstrate that they will take on a rigged system in order to fix it,” Warren said in a speech outlining her vision of Democrats’ electoral future at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

She added that a party that “worries more about offending big donors than delivering for working people is a party that is doomed to fail – in 2026, 2028, and beyond.”

The Massachusetts senator and 2020 presidential candidate championed populist policy ideas and increased regulation of big business long before affordability became a political buzzword. Heading into a critical midterm year, Warren is proposing that an “aggressive economic vision” be the central pillar of the Democratic Party’s strategy.

This follows a wider effort by Democrats around the country to focus on the economy after successes in 2025 off-year elections in New Jersey, Virginia and New York City, where candidates overwhelmingly leaned on a message of affordability.

“To win, every Democrat should be proposing concrete plans for lowering costs,” Warren said.

It’s a focus point that continues to be top of mind around the country. A December CNN poll revealed that, if given the chance to tell leaders of the Democratic party one thing that would make life in America better, 22% of Americans said improving the cost of living or the economy.

Warren emphasized that the first step for the party is rebuilding a “long-term, durable trust” to create a “big tent” of voters, so they know Democrats “actually understand what’s broken, and trust that we have the courage to fix it – even when that means taking on the wealthy and well-connected.”

Top Democrats in the Senate are already laying the groundwork for affordability to take center stage on the campaign trail this year. Last week, Warren and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer launched an election-year push zeroing in on housing.

Warren has a history of bringing affordability to the forefront. She proposed the idea for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as a law professor in 2007. The agency, created in 2011, has been a target of conservatives, and President Donald Trump has sought to dismantle it since taking office last year, although he has faced significant challenges in doing so.

In a post-speech question-and-answer session, Warren avoided saying directly whether Democrats should compromise on campaigning on social issues like abortion rights and immigration in favor of the economy, but said it is the “economic message that has to be the tip of the spear for Democrats.”

“It is the thing that American people are telling us they want us to talk about,” Warren said. “I’m trying to lay the foundation for how Democrats run in 2026, and I think we do that on a solid foundation that is based on our economics.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.