Jason Palmer, a former Democratic presidential candidate, has predicted that the party will adopt a split messaging strategy for the 2026 elections, tailoring candidates and platforms to regional politics following recent off-year election successes. The Democrats have experienced a series of wins in the off-year election, taking governors’ races and key positions in several state and local elections. However, the party’s future still appears unclear, as more centrist candidates won in Virginia and New Jersey, while more leftist candidates scored victories in places like New York City. Palmer, who ran in the 2024 election cycle, argued the party’s future is ‘very much up for debate’ but predicted clarity within the next year. He believes the 2025 victories could lead to Democrats using split messaging, choosing candidates based on their potential voters.
Palmer, who co-founded TOGETHER!, stated that the Democrats are making a mistake in their messaging on billionaires and business. He argues that the party is going too far against billionaires and should instead support entrepreneurship. ‘America is a country where people can make of themselves what they want, and most of the people that are billionaires in America did not inherit their wealth,’ Palmer said. He emphasized the importance of business building as a core part of what makes America great and suggested that the party should be pro-entrepreneurship and pro-mission-driven entrepreneurship.
While Palmer discussed the possibility of split messaging, he believes there is one issue that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on: conscious capitalism. He sees public benefit corporations (PBC) as the way of the future as young people search for meaning. ‘I think conscious capitalism is where our economy is ultimately going,’ he said. ‘More and more young people want to work at purpose-driven companies, and they’re okay with them being for-profit companies.’
Palmer also addressed the driving force behind young people’s need to find meaning through their work. He suggested that purpose-driven work has come to replace religion for many. While he himself is a Quaker, Palmer noted that younger generations are moving away from organized religion and towards something else. ‘I think a lot of people are trying to get their purpose through work, and there are a lot of companies that provide that purpose and that family feeling, basically,’ he said.
To implement conscious capitalism as actual policy, Palmer proposed a two-step taxation process in Washington, D.C. This would allow corporations that have mission-driven principles and release impact metrics to pay a lower rate than companies that go completely for-profit. With less than a year to go before the 2026 midterms, Palmer’s message to Democrats is to ‘look for younger candidates to run in purple districts all across the country.’ He also shared that he plans to release a list of young candidates who he is endorsing. He said the people on his list are in their 20s and 30s and have entrepreneurial backgrounds and believe in ‘conscious capitalism.’