Washington, D.C. has not had a murder in twelve days, but some national Democrats are arguing that President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital is a “political liability” for Republicans.
A presentation delivered at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) summer meeting on Monday urged Democrats to go on offense against the president’s deployment of National Guard units and a wide array of federal agencies to combat crime, arguing those efforts would not make Americans safer and backfire on Republicans politically. The DNC’s advocacy against “tough-on-crime” policies comes as crime has declined markedly in the district with law enforcement conducting more than 1,000 arrests and taking more than 110 guns off the street since Aug. 13.
“It’s about grabbing power however they can,” Insha Rahman, director of Vera Action, told Democrats following remarks by DNC Chair Ken Martin and Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. “And this is a vulnerability — this tough-on-crime rhetoric and actions, which historically, I think Democrats have seen as a win for Republicans. It is actually a liability right now.”
“There’s an opportunity right now with this political liability, this unconstitutional takeover of our cities for Democrats to own safety,” Rahman continued.
Rahman, who leads a left-wing criminal justice advocacy organization that has previously endorsed defunding the police, presented Democrats with polling showing that a majority of voters reject Republicans’ approach to combating crime.
The May 2025 YouGov survey found that 40% of respondents preferred a “tough-on-crime” approach, which includes lengthier sentences for individuals convicted of violent felonies, giving law enforcement additional resources to fight crime and preserving bail laws to keep “dangerous people” in the government’s custody. Meanwhile, 60% preferred fully funding “things that are proven to create safe communities … and help prevent crime by increasing treatment for mental health and drug addiction.”
The survey was commissioned by Vera Action, a 501(c)(4) organization of which Rahman serves as director, according to its website. The survey asked respondents to pick which of the two statements came the closest to their view.
Rahman implored Democrats to back a “serious-about-safety” approach that prioritizes solutions that allegedly address the root causes of crime and make further investments in education, mental health services and affordable housing.
“There is a conventional political wisdom about crime, and it’s that if voters are concerned about it, they want tough policies. That’s actually not true,” Rahman said. “They want to know that you’re going to address the underlying drivers that make us safe or less safe.”
A June 2020 paper from the Vera Institute of Justice advocated for “drastically reducing the size and budget of police departments.”
Voters trust Republicans more than Democrats on crime and policing by a 13-point margin, according to a May 2025 CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
The current 12-day streak of zero homicides in the nation’s capital is the longest duration without a murder in the district since January 2020, the New York Post reported.
A spokesperson for the DNC and Vera Action did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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