He's a very emotional "man."
But he's totally tough.
Democrats are showing that they're Strong and Tough and Completely Relatable to Masculine Men.
Like this Chinese spy sissy:
Oooh, benching one plate is TIGHT!
CNN wants you to know how Butch Democrats are now.
Democrats running in next year's midterms are pumping out videos of themselves pumping iron.
In one video, Texas Senate candidate Colin Allred stands in his home gym after a workout and, still in a sweat, criticizes President Donald Trump's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. In another, Cait Conley, an Army veteran challenging New York Rep. Mike Lawler, talks about affordability as a video plays of her pressing weights over her head.
And when a critic on social media jabbed at his bench-press form in a recent campaign ad, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed posted a snappy dismissal correcting how many pounds he was lifting.
Ad
"That's 315, habibi," El-Sayed said in a post on X that has been viewed more than 5 million times.
Politicians working out in public is a bipartisan custom. But Democrats are increasingly posting weightlifting content in hopes of reaching male voters in the so-called "manosphere" that Trump mastered during his campaign. They are also trying to move past the ongoing arguments -- fanned by Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill -- over former President Joe Biden's physical and mental fitness.
"People want to see vigor, they want to see action, that you're prepared to do the job, doing more than sitting behind a podium regurgitating a litany of nonsensical acronyms," said Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo.
Pat Dennis, another strategist, credited candidates for exploring new ways to reach people, but warned about seeming inauthentic.
"I would caution Democrats against pulling out a checklist -- 'For young men, we'll do some bench pressing; for young women, we'll talk about the Barbie movie,'" he said. "People don't like checklists and they don't like being pandered to. They remember you for who you are. You need to be authentic, in a way that is believable."
El-Sayed said posting his lifts allows him to reach young men who otherwise have trouble identifying with Democrats. But he argues that the weightlifting content isn't just for men.
"As bro-coded as heavy lifting tends to be, like I said, some of the most monster lifters I've ever met are women over the ages of 65," he said. "This is a discipline that is there for everybody."