Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro decried corruption during his primary night address to supporters in Bucks County last month. And then he did it again. And again.
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By the end of his speech, the Democrat accused President Donald Trump, his administration and his congressional supporters of participating in or enabling corruption no fewer than a dozen times.
The following day, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. — who represents the battleground House district where Shapiro spoke — told reporters he was working on legislation to block the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund the Justice Department recently announced, which opponents pilloried as a corrupt, taxpayer-funded slush fund for Trump’s allies.
“We gotta unpack exactly what it is, what the source of the funding is in order to stop it and/or reverse it,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview. “I don’t support it. … You can’t do that.”
The episode was a striking example of how corruption is increasingly at the center of the 2026 election, with Democrats making it a core tenet of their midterm messaging. Much like Trump — who has aimed his “drain the swamp” mantra at congressional Democrats who reported stock trades or Hunter Biden for his business dealings — Democrats are seeking to take advantage of spiking levels of voter distrust in government and dissatisfaction with the economy by spotlighting examples or allegations of the president, his allies or congressional Republicans enriching themselves or providing friendly industries with special treatment.
“We’re doing it in every corner of the country,” said a national Democratic strategist, speaking on condition of anonymity. “And the idea is it’s an affordability cycle, and so everybody cares about affordability, No. 1, when you pair the message with the reason that your costs are going up is because politicians care more about themselves, they’re corrupt, they’re bought by corporate donors or they’re lining their own pockets, and that’s why they’re not looking out for you, that’s the most potent mix of the two arguments.”
“It’ll help us win in places that Trump won because, let’s be honest, Trump, with his drain the swamp and shake up a broken Washington — that attracted a lot of voters,” this person continued. “And we can claw back some people … who wanted an outsider, who didn’t like Washington politics, and we can do it by saying they’re the ones who are corrupt.”
The focus comes as Trump or his investment managers made more than 3,700 stock trades in the first quarter of this year, according to a financial disclosure filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, including some involving major corporations with dealings before his administration. He has pledged to protect from state regulation two industries to which he or his family members have financial ties: crypto and prediction markets. And the Pentagon recently awarded Dell a nearly $10 billion contract after the president acquired stock in the company.
Trump told The New York Times this year he has shifted his thinking on his family’s business pursuits while in office. He believed no one cared that he limited his children from engaging in international business ventures during his first term.
“I prohibited them from doing business in my first term, and I got absolutely no credit for it,” he said. “I didn’t have to do that. And it’s really unfair to them. … I found out that nobody cared, and I’m allowed to.”
In a statement, the White House said Democrats were pursuing “the same, tired, false narrative that Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade — while at the same time ignoring the legitimate corruption and weaponization committed by the Biden crime family.”
“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office,” Olivia Wales, a White House spokesperson, continued, pointing to his efforts to stem the flow of migration into the U.S. and cut taxes as part of the “big beautiful bill.”
A bevy of data shows an increased number of Americans expressing distrust in institutions. An NBC News survey in March found that 59% of Americans agree that the country’s economic and political systems are stacked against them, while just 38% disagree — the most substantial split in that direction polled by NBC News since April 1992. The same survey found that 84% believe the rich and powerful are above the law and get special treatment or look out for each other, with 57% saying that trend has gotten worse in the last five to 10 years.
Separately, in February, Gallup found that Americans’ concerns about government remained at historic levels. Swing Left, a progressive voter outreach group, found that “system integrity and trust” was the top concern residents in battleground districts expressed in the first quarter of 2026. And Our Revolution, the progressive political organizing group, said that surveys of its 8 million members showed concerns over government and corporate corruption leapt to the top of their issues, overtaking “Medicare for All.”
Democrats’ most recognizable leaders — including 2028 contenders — have all zeroed in on the issue. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., last week announced the launch of the “End Corruption Caucus” with Reps. Jason Crow, D-Colo., and Mike Levin, D-Calif.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters at a Center for American Progress conference that the party’s “top priority” upon retaking power in Congress needs to be “immediately” putting to an end to “the corruption and the graft and the grift.”
At the same conference, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pointed to the financing of the president’s proposed ballroom, the anti-weaponization fund and Trump’s recently reported stock trades in describing a need for “cleaning up corruption.”
And Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., has centered his campaign on the issue, saying on Sunday that the Trump administration is “the most corrupt administration of all time, and everybody knows it.”
The methodical focus on the issue is especially notable given the long-standing notion, dating back to Trump’s first term, that instances of alleged corruption or ethical slips didn’t drive voters’ decisions at the ballot box. Democrats say there has been a shift, though, and it’s driven by negative feelings toward the economy. Voters were more likely to turn a blind eye during Trump’s first term because they broadly approved of his handling of the economy, the argument goes. Now, Trump is facing widespread disapproval on the economy.
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who is mulling a Democratic presidential bid, said voters “do care” about alleged instances of corruption.
“They see the ballroom as corruption,” he said. “They see the arches as corruption … They see his self-enrichment, and I’ll say it this way: They have concluded correctly he is more concerned about his personal finances than he’s concerned about your finances.”
Republicans who spoke with NBC News said they believe they have a way to counter Democrats on corruption and appeal to voters who are ever so distrustful of government — and it’s a signature undertaking of Vice President JD Vance: his anti-fraud task force.
One national Republican strategist, pointing to surveys taken as the administration was enacting its Department of Government Efficiency agenda, said there is broad voter distaste for government waste, fraud and abuse that Republicans are seeking to root out.
“In polling that we’ve seen public and private, I don’t think either party really holds an edge on the corruption issue,” said this person, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I think if anything, it’s more of just a mutual vulnerability.”
This person pointed to states where the administration has aimed its anti-fraud task force, including Minnesota and Maine, noting competitive House and Senate races taking place there.
“I don’t think voters really associate either side as being more or less corrupt than the other,” this person said. “It’s just an issue where both sides will get blamed for it and called out for any of the stuff that they’re doing.
Minnesota has been at the center of this space, with multiple investigations into alleged fraud, including alleged welfare fraud.
“While Democrats make excuses for waste, fraud, and abuse, Republicans are demanding accountability for scandals — like those that happened under Peggy Flanagan’s watch — and continue fighting to protect Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars,” Bernadette Breslin, a National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesperson, said in a statement.
Some Republicans have gone beyond the anti-fraud endeavor, though. Fitzpatrick and some Senate Republicans rebuked the anti-weaponization fund, which has since been put on hold by a federal court. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has advocated for a wide-ranging ban on stock trading that includes members of Congress, the president and vice president. And House Republicans recently opened an investigation into alleged insider trading on prediction markets.
Candidates in competitive races have embraced both the corruption and fraud-fighting narratives. At a rally in Maine last month, Vance repeatedly highlighted former Gov. Paul LePage, now running in a battleground House seat, as “the biggest threat to fraudsters” when he held power and someone who would “fight fraud at the federal level.”
After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was impeached on bribery and corruption charges in 2023 by a GOP-controlled state House before being acquitted by the state Senate, won the Republican Senate nomination last week, Democratic opponent James Talarico framed him as “the most corrupt politician in America.” In response to Paxton’s criticisms of his past culturally progressive commentary, Talarico told NBC News that “what Ken Paxton is doing is clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”
Meave Coyle, a spokesperson for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, excoriated a host of Republican Senate candidates as “corrupt” in a statement.
“Republican Senate candidates have proven over and over that they’re only looking out for themselves and their wealthy special interest backers while forcing higher costs, more expensive health care, and pain at the gas pump on hardworking Americans,” she said.
In Pennsylvania, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, the Democratic nominee for a major House battleground seat, has focused on a series of stock trades her opponent, GOP Rep. Rob Bresnahan, made in office.
Bresnahan said financial advisers manage his portfolio and that he gave them no trading instructions, adding in an interview that Democrats “can’t assault me on my actual voting record, so they’ve resorted to character assassination.”
“People in this area feel that folks don’t have their backs, and that the system is really working against them,” Cognetti said, noting high-profile corruption scandals in her city and state. “For us here going into 2026, corruption is still a very salient issue. People don’t want to see more folks in positions of authority that let them down.”
In the nearby 10th District, Democrat Janelle Stelson, who is seeking to unseat Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., described “corruption in Washington” as one of “the big three issues.” She called for term or age limits for members, banning the trading of individual stocks and the ability to go from serving in Congress to becoming a lobbyist.
She also pushed back at the sense some voters express about all politicians being, in some form or fashion, corrupt.
“But everybody’s not corrupt!” she said, adding before pointing to her career in local broadcast news. “I’ve asked these questions and answered it for people. Everybody’s not corrupt.”
Still, she said, voters are “really upset about” it.
