Democrats struggle with working-class connection and Chargers withstand Bengals comeback: Morning Rundown

Labor leaders say Democrats need to rethink their approach to working-class voters. Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth's attorney confirmed he paid a woman after she accused him of sexual assault. And violence in Amsterdam is exposing anti-immigrant tensions in the Netherlands.

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Union leaders say it's time to 'reconstruct the Democratic Party' Working class voters moved further than ever away from their traditional home in the Democratic Party in this year's election, leading some to rethink their approach to winning the demographic.

While unions say their extensive organizing efforts helped Democrats largely hold the line with their members — Vice President Kamala Harris' support among union households this year was slightly down from Biden's in 2020 — they say party's erosion among working-class voters more generally is alarming. "I don't think the party has fully embraced, and hasn't for decades, really, working-class people," said Brent Booker, the general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America. "We have to deconstruct and reconstruct the Democratic Party if they're going to be the party of working people."

Union membership has cratered over the past 50 years, so union leaders say there is only so much they can do in a world where 9 in 10 workers are not unionized and larger trends are cleaving workers from the Democratic Party.

One suggestion from union leaders? Platform a fierier populist message on the economy and a cooler one on cultural issues that make some of his members feel like Democrats are out-of-touch elitists. "A lot of our members own guns. A lot of our members hunt," Booker said.

The labor movement includes a vast range of opinions, but there is widespread frustration that Trump outflanked Democrats to position himself as a champion of working people and some in the party say long-term trends are reaching a crisis point.

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