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Hi, y’all. Welcome back to The Opposition. This newsletter covers a lot of heavy subjects related to the Democratic party’s attempt to rebuild and win back power. But the thing about politics is that despite the serious real-life stakes, there can be some ridiculousness to the actual act of running for office. Underneath the wonky speeches and ten-point policy plans, elections can sometimes still feel a lot like high school popularity contests. At least that’s how a lot of Democratic operatives are thinking about politics these days. And today’s edition is all about how they plan to conquer the proverbial school lunch room.
Keep up with all our coverage of the 2026 midterms and the candidates laying the groundwork for 2028 presidential runs by signing up for a Bulwark+ membership today—you’ll get access to all our locked content, including ad-free versions of our podcasts. And if you join today, you’ll save 20 percent over the normal annual price:
–Lauren
Thirst Traps Over Think Tanks: Dems Want Hotter Candidates on the Ballot
Awkwardly flirting with questions of attractiveness.
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THE DEBATE AMONG DEMOCRATS over how to win back disaffected voters has touched on virtually every aspect of campaigns, policy, and politics. But what if the answer is so primal, so shallow, so inherently biological that to hear it out loud would make you uncomfortably chuckle?
What if the key to winning was to run more “hot” people?
Don’t laugh.
The idea that the Democratic party has a hotness deficit it needs to address has come up repeatedly in conversations I’ve had over the past few months as I’ve talked to strategists about what the party can do to improve how it’s perceived. Yes, they say, Democrats need to shed litmus tests, put aside purity politics, and drop the academic-sounding language. But they also would benefit from simply having more thirst-traps on the ticket, more candidates who could make voters swoon.
“It’s easier to elect hot people. America is a superficial nation, and we want our politicians—especially those that are representing us on an international stage, as the number-one world power—to be hot, to look good,” said Yemisi Egbewole, the former Biden White House press office chief of staff, adding that this had become a “foundational brunch time conversation” among the D.C. Democratic class.
“We are drawn to attractive people. That’s just science.”
Wait, is it science?
In fact, it is.
“There’s lots of evidence that people focus on appearances just all the time,” said Gabriel Lenz, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who coauthored a 2010 study that found that the physical appearance of candidates strongly influences voters.¹
“We’re asking [voters] to make really hard decisions—which is who’s going to be the best leader, representative, whoever it is. And we’re often not making it that easy for them to get a lot of other information about the candidates. So people exhibit a very basic pattern that’s well established and well documented,” he added. “They swap in who just looks like a leader, and don’t realize they’ve done that.”
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Whether motivated by the data or more carnal desires, the “hot people” conversation has begun to take over parts of the political internet, where a number of left-leaning influencers and podcast hosts have expressed their desire for the next class of Democratic leaders to have some sex appeal.
“Oh my God, I want a hot president,” Jennifer Welch of the I’ve Had It podcast said in an interview last week. “Hot democrat alert,” posted Democratic influencer Keith Edwards in response to a video clip of Sam Forstag, a 31-year-old smokejumper running for one of Montana’s two House seats. If you search Jon Ossoff’s name on X or TikTok, you’ll be met with a number of thirsty posts calling the Georgia senator a “total hottie.”
“Jon Ossoff—there was just something about him,” said the content creator Qondi Ntini, who runs what can best be described as an Democratic thirst-trap X account, where she frequently refers to Ossoff as “Senator My Boo.” She’s raised thousands of dollars for Democratic candidates through the account and has been invited to the White House and the DNC as a part of their content-creator programs.
“The way I see thirst and the people that I choose to support, it’s more about their values and what they can do for their constituents. The hotness stems from that, and it makes them hotter. It’s also kind of a rebuke of toxic masculinity,” she added. “It’s a fun way to still stay engaged with politics without burning out.”
It goes without saying that simply running for office as a “hot” candidate doesn’t guarantee your election, even if the research suggests it could enhance your chances. For starters, there is no universal definition of what constitutes “hot.” Beauty, in this case, is in the eye of the voter.
HERE’S THE THING: Good looks are fairly synonymous with an aura of youth or vitality—and that seems to be a real driving motivation for Democrats. The party is in the middle of a mass rejection of its gerontocracy—slamming the door shut on the Biden presidency that wasn’t exactly known for its, uh, sex appeal. There is a deep desire to recapture the cultural relevance the party enjoyed during the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton years and to shed the current perception that Democrats are the dweeby teacher’s pets who sit at the front of the classroom.