Emanuel proposes ‘6 for ’26’ Democratic midterm strategy amid 2028 speculation

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel on Monday outlined six agenda items for Democrats to prioritize in the 2026 midterm elections. 

The former Chicago mayor and former U.S. ambassador to Japan pitched his “six for ’26” plan in a talk at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics on Monday, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. 

His six points were minimum wage increases, a ratepayer bill of rights, health care cost controls, ethics reform, social media minimum age limits, and a ban on prediction betting for federal officials. 

Emanuel, who is considering a run for the presidency in 2028, has traveled to Mississippi, Wisconsin and Michigan in recent weeks and is expected to travel to South Carolina next. 

“If I think I have what it takes to answer what is ailing this great country, then I will jump into the deep end without my water wings,” Emanuel said, according to the Union Leader. 

This new proposal is reminiscent of the “six for ’6 agenda” Emanuel launched when he was leading the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006. 

The plan, which was devised for moderate Democrats running in red districts, focused on domestic economic issues during the U.S.’s war with Iraq. 

“In ’06, while you had the wars, you also had the beginnings — if you looked at the housing data, etc. — of the economic challenges and problems. Which is why the six in ’06, our agenda was all economic and not international,” Emanuel told The Hill earlier this month. 

Congressional Democrats have largely coalesced around the issue of affordability ahead of this year’s midterm elections, criticizing the Trump administration’s fiscal policies and the economic impact of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran. 

The president’s handling of these military operations has been met with criticism from the American public. In a new University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released Monday, only 29 percent of respondents said they supported President Trump’s approach to the conflict, while only 33 percent said they supported his overall job performance.