At Crooked Media’s inaugural Crooked Con, Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride delivered an energetic and often humorous call to action for her party: If Democrats hope to rebuild a winning coalition, they must better welcome, and reflect, the diversity of the voters they claim to represent. And in McBride’s words, that starts with embracing a “bisexual big tent.”
McBride, the Delaware Democrat who made history as the nation’s first openly transgender state senator before winning election to Congress, is no stranger to coalition-building. Speaking to a crowd of activists, organizers and political leaders, she argued that the Democratic Party’s path back to broad electoral success depends on recommitting to empathy, inclusivity and genuine coalition politics.
“A big tent is bisexual. It goes to the left and the right, and that starts with us being kind to one another, being respectful to one another, and being welcoming to one another.”
While humorous, McBride’s metaphor underscored a serious concern: Democrats, she warned, cannot afford internal division at a moment when the political stakes are unusually high. She emphasized that winning and governing effectively both depend on building authentic relationships with voters, and with one another.
“You can’t build the diverse, working-class coalition necessary to win if people don’t feel like you like them,” she said. “And by extension, care for them and respect them.”
McBride said that includes rethinking how Democrats talk about identity both inside and outside the party. While identity politics has long been used as a conservative talking point, she cautioned that Democrats sometimes fall into their own unproductive patterns, whether through ideological purity tests or dismissiveness toward parts of their base.
“It also means not being unkind to our own base,” McBride said. “It means not employing identity politics and purity politics from the center toward the left.”
According to McBride, expanding the Democratic tent requires setting aside factional instinct in favor of a posture rooted in respect. She made the case that the party must become “the most welcoming coalition to everyone from our left to the center,” emphasizing that inclusion should be an active practice, not an abstract principle.
“At the end of the day, a big tent… it goes both ways,” she said. “A big tent is bisexual.”
Her comments reflect a growing debate inside the Democratic Party about messaging, strategy and internal culture ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. After several years of mixed results at the ballot box, party leaders and activists have increasingly called for an approach that reconnects the party with voters who feel ignored or taken for granted, especially those in working-class communities.
McBride’s remarks highlight how LGBTQ+ voices continue to shape that conversation, bringing both policy perspective and lived experience to broader ideological debates. As one of the most prominent LGBTQ+ elected officials in the country, she has often argued that queer politics can serve as a model for inclusive organizing.
Her message to Democrats was equal parts rallying cry and reality check: If the party wants to win, it must be welcoming, not only to voters from different backgrounds but also to members within its own coalition.
