数千名民主党人，包括立法者、策略师、民调专家、创作者、组织者、工作人员以及2028年总统竞选者，正在科罗拉多州丹佛市举行的为期三天的聚会上寻找答案，此前他们在2026年中期选举中取得了压倒性胜利。但答案依然模糊。
It's the question thousands of Democrats, including lawmakers, strategists, pollsters, creators, organizers, staffers and 2028 presidential hopefuls are trying to answer at a three-day gathering in Denver, after a sweeping victory in the 2026 midterm elections. But the answer remains vague.
“我们必须在这场可负担性危机中，立即提供大胆的救助，”得克萨斯州参议员当选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科在周四举行的“下一步”会议上表示。
"We must deliver immediate, bold relief during this affordability crisis," James Talarico, the senator-elect from Texas, said at the "What's Next" conference on Thursday.
“现在，我们将肩负集体责任，真正开始工作，为一个可负担的美国而战，努力降低……杂货的高昂成本、汽油的高昂成本、住房的高昂成本，”纽约州众议员哈基姆·杰弗里斯在周五表示。
"Now, we'll have the collective responsibility to really get to work, fighting for an affordable America, working hard to drive down the high cost of … groceries, high cost of gas, high cost of housing," Hakeem Jeffries, the congressman of New York, said on Friday.
共识是，民主党需要在1月成为多数党后迅速行动。但具体如何行动则复杂得多。
The consensus is Democrats need to act quickly when they become the majority in January. But the how in that is much more complicated.
一个悬而未决的问题是，立法者应更多关注追究责任、对政府进行调查，还是应专注于推动立法，使美国人的生活更加负担得起。
There's a looming question of whether lawmakers should focus more on accountability and pursuing investigations into the administration or focus on moving legislation forward to make life more affordable for Americans.
艾奥瓦州州长当选人罗布·桑德周四对记者表示，他认为重点应放在提供切实的经济救助上。
Rob Sand, the governor-elect of Iowa told reporters on Thursday he thought the focus should be on delivering tangible economic relief.
“每次我现在读到，关于媒体已经报道过的事情的更多调查时，我都会想：‘我们为什么要调查这个？已经报道过了。’为什么不做一些真正有成效的事情，或者让人们的生活变得更好呢？”桑德表示。
"Every time I read, right now, about more investigations of things that have already been reported on in the media, I'm thinking: 'Why do we need to investigate that? It's already been reported on.' Why don't you do something actually productive or better people's lives," Sand said.
马里兰州众议员杰米·拉斯金预计将领导众议院司法委员会，他对记者表示，他认为立法者可以两者兼顾。
Jamie Raskin, the congressman from Maryland who is expected to lead the House judiciary committee, told reporters he believed lawmakers could do both.
此外，参议院的党内领导权之争正在酝酿。马里兰州的克里斯·范·霍伦正在挑战该党长期领导人查克·舒默，竞争参议院多数党领袖一职。
Not to mention, there's a fight brewing over party leadership in the Senate. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is now challenging Chuck Schumer, the party's longtime leader, as Senate majority leader.
“我不会投票给舒默参议员，”密歇根州参议员埃莉莎·斯洛特金周五对记者表示。
"I'm not voting for senator Schumer," Elissa Slotkin, a senator for Michigan, told reporters on Friday.
然而，民主党人事实上的庆祝聚会上的气氛——这个聚会是由一个名为“多数党民主党人”（Majority Democrats）的新团体提前数月筹划的——大体上充满了庆祝的喜悦。与会者为在长期属于共和党的据点中取得的巨大胜利而狂欢，这些胜利让该党在国会两院占据了可观多数席位，并扩大了民主党对全国各地州长职位和州议会的控制。
Yet the mood at the Democrats' de facto victory party – which was planned months in advance by a new group called Majority Democrats – was mostly celebratory. Attendees reveled in the massive wins in longtime Republican strongholds that handed the party sizable majorities in both chambers of Congress and expanded Democrats' control of governorships and state legislatures across the country.
周四下午，一支六人爵士乐队在宽敞的户外广场迎接与会者。与会者相互拥抱并道贺。广场上挤满了面带微笑的民主党人，有些人穿着印有“塔拉里科竞选得克萨斯”（Talarico for Texas）字样的衬衫，佩戴着“杰米·阿格尔竞选国会议员”（Jamie Ager for Congress）的徽章，另一些人则戴着“纳税”字样的帽子。
A six-piece jazz band welcomed attendees to a spacious outdoor plaza on Thursday afternoon. Attendees hugged and congratulated one another. The plaza was packed with smiling Democrats, some wearing "Talarico for Texas" shirts and "Jamie Ager for Congress" pins, others wore "pay your taxes" hats.
大多数与会者都很年轻。许多组织者和战略家都是在2016年唐纳德·特朗普首次当选时或之后加入民主党团体或竞选活动的人。多位与会者将这场活动形容为同学聚会。
Most of the attendees were young. Many of the organizers and strategists are people who joined Democratic groups or campaigns in or after 2016, when Donald Trump was first elected. Multiple attendees described the event like a class reunion.
人群中充满拥抱、欢笑，以及那些在过去十年里为实现民主党大获全胜而努力的狂喜组织者们的自拍。
The crowd was filled with hugs, laughter and selfies of overjoyed organizers who have spent the last decade working toward a Democratic sweep.
民主党超级政治行动委员会“美国优先”（Priorities USA）执行主任丹妮尔·巴特菲尔德（Danielle Butterfield）表示：“我认为，无论胜负，对选举进行复盘都很重要。我认为我们看到了在2024年之后未能恰当复盘选举所带来的负面后果。”
"I think it is important to debrief elections, win or lose. I think we saw the negative ramifications of not properly debriefing an election after 2024," said Danielle Butterfield, the executive director of Priorities USA, a Democratic-aligned Super Pac.
到周五下午4点，含酒精饮料源源不断，看似无休止的欢乐时光派对开始了。然而，在兴奋之下似乎隐藏着一种担忧，即民主党人会错失良机。一位民主党战略家说：“我们不能搞砸。”
By 4pm on Friday, alcoholic beverages were flowing and what seemed like an endless stream of happy hours began. Yet, beneath the excitement appeared to be a fear that Democrats would fail to seize the moment. "We can't fuck this up," one Democratic strategist said.
党内暗流涌动的紧张关系在整个周末的活动中随处可见。左翼抗议者在周五的主舞台活动中多次打断杰弗里斯的发言。他们称他是叛徒，指责他没有对特朗普政府进行足够的反击，并且忽视了年轻的民主党选民。
Reminders of simmering tensions within the party were present throughout the weekend. Leftist protesters interrupted Jeffries multiple times during his Friday event on the main stage. They called him a traitor, accused him of not pushing back enough on the Trump administration and of ignoring younger Democratic voters.
活动会场外，一小群抗议者呼吁民主党人拒绝舒默并选举新的领导层。另一大群抗议者则表达了对巴勒斯坦的支持并谴责了亿万富翁。
Outside of the event venue, a small group of protesters called on Democrats to reject Schumer and elect new leadership. Another larger group of protesters expressed support for Palestine and denounced billionaires.
进步派民主党人在“下一步”大会的主舞台上难得一见，他们对建制派民主党人表达了深深的不满。在整个活动期间，一些民主党人暗指了这些不满。
Progressive Democrats, whose presence on the main stage was few and far between at the "What's Next" conference, have expressed deep frustrations with establishment Democrats. Throughout the event, some Democrats alluded to those frustrations.
28岁的北卡罗来纳州民主党主席安德森·克莱顿质疑为什么民主党人没有对南方进行投资，尤其是在选民将选票投给民主党人的黑人选区。
Anderson Clayton, the 28-year-old chair of the North Carolina Democratic party, questioned why Democrats had not invested in the South, especially in Black districts where voters cast their ballots for Democrats.
克莱顿周四表示：“我们说黑人选民是我们党的基础。然后我问，为什么我们不投资该国的一个地区，就在周二晚上，该地区刚刚用实力打破了所有人对可能性的错误看法。”
"We say that Black voters are the base of our party. Then I ask why are we not investing in a region of the country that on Tuesday night, just proved everybody wrong of what is possible," Clayton said on Thursday.
辛辛那提市长阿夫塔布·普雷瓦尔警告民主党人，不要将最近的胜利视为民主党受欢迎的信号。
Aftab Pureval, the mayor of Cincinnati, warned Democrats not to take the recent wins as a sign that the Democratic party was popular.
普雷瓦尔说：“胜利有一种讨厌的倾向，会模糊我们的判断。它让我们的目光转向内部，诱使我们相信，我们这个房间里的这些人拯救了民主。美国人民终于接受了我们的思维方式。但事实是，他们并没有向我们靠拢。”
"Victory has a nasty tendency of clouding our judgment. It turns our eyes inward, tempting us to believe that, we here in this room, saved democracy. That the American people finally came around to our way of thinking.
普雷瓦尔说：“上周，他们给了我们最后一次机会去向他们靠拢。”但当被问及民主党内部派别潜在的分裂时，许多与会者对担忧不以为然，他们相信民主党会在关键时刻挺身而出。
But the truth is, they didn't come around to us," Pureval said. "Last week, they gave us one more chance to come around to them But when asked about the potential split in Democratic factions, many attendees dismissed concerns, believing Democrats will rise to the occasion.
进步派基层组织“左翼摇摆”的执行主任亚斯明·拉吉对《卫报》表示：“我们当前政治时刻中的进步派与温德派二元对立，不足以理解我们所处的时刻。”
"The progressive – moderate binary in this moment in our politics is insufficient for understanding the moment that we're in," Yasmin Radjy, the executive director of Swing Left, a progressive grassroots organization, told the Guardian.
拉德吉表示：“与会者中有一个相当有活力的组合，虽然这个会议打着温和派会议的旗号，但如果你更具体地审视主舞台上传递的信息以及这里许多领导人的交谈方式，就会发现正在发生一些不同的事情。”
"Among the attendees, there is a pretty dynamic mix and while this conference is branded as a moderate conference, when you look more specifically at both the main stage messaging and the ways that a lot of leaders here are talking, there is a different thing that's happening," Radjy said.
“大家更多地在讨论拥抱加法政治意味着什么，以及真正确保民主党人取得重大成果意味着什么。”
"There's more talk about what it means to embrace the politics of addition, what it means to really make sure that Democrats deliver in a major way."