“Millions went to the polls because they couldn’t pay their bills and needed help. To keep power, Democrats must now deliver on that mandate. In other words, it’s debt cancellation o’clock!” — Eleni Schirmer, Organizer and Higher Ed Researcher
Midterm results are in, and the political terrain has shifted!
At Debt Collective — our founders, members, and organizers alike have thoughts (we’re nerds of course).
Read on to hear our midterm reactions and comment below with your very own. We hope you’ll join us as we reflect, reassess, and recharge our batteries for the debt abolition fights ahead.
“Affordability” was one of the buzzwords of this election cycle, and rightly so. But what does that problem feel like? What does it feel like when you can’t afford groceries, gas, rent, medical care, and college? It feels like debt. Gas and medical bills on a credit card. Student debt payments going into default and contemplating buy-now-pay-later for an oil change or groceries. We cannot debt-finance the things we need to survive and thrive. Yes, abolish medical debt and build Medicare for All. Yes, abolish student debt and establish College for All. Financialization on the backs of households is the problem. Reparative public goods are the solution. Debtors’ unions (alongside workers’ and tenants’ unions) are one of the political forms necessary to get us all the way there.” — Hannah Appel, Co-Founder and Researcher
“I feel exuberant about the election. Let’s call it the “OBBBW” — One Big Beautiful Blue Wave. Of course, it gives me hope about the future, but in reality, the history of the Dems and their usual bland centrist approach has been way too corporate-friendly and elitist. We need a leadership now that can rally the working class and restore our democracy and rid this country of the shackles of unfair debt and servitude, especially for us elders.” — MaryJo Wiatrak, 50-over-50 member
“I feel mixed emotions after the midterms. On the one hand, I’m excited about the “Blue-wave,” particularly Democratic Socialist wins across the country. From a media perspective, the forces that tried to use Hasan Piker to sabotage progressive candidates ended up amplifying him and popularizing those same candidates. In a kind of echo of Trump’s past rise to prominence, particularly his unending ability to capture media attention, the current media’s obsession with Piker seemed to help left-wing candidates more than hinder them. At the same time, Trump’s narcissism came back to bite him.
But, here in California, I feel disappointed that Prop 40 failed to pass, as it was a one-time tax on 200 billionaires’ massive wealth. In a so-called leftist city like San Francisco, establishment Democrats won by a landslide — a trend happening throughout the Bay Area where technofascists are pouring millions into local elections. I fear that these results may be a sign of what’s yet to come at the national level as centrist and right-wing politicians use identity reductionism and push for policies that hurt working-class people under the guise of Democratic leadership. This is a reminder that voting matters, but so does joining organizations like your local DSA chapter (Democratic Socialists of America) and Debt Collective.
— Maddy Clifford, Creative Media Strategist
“I forgot what hope feels like. The last two years have been hard watching your people, your community, fall into despair — making space for their panic while trying to temper your own. This hope feels good. But this is a small win in a big war. The worst of the OBBB (One Big Beautiful Bill) is yet to come. It’s going to get worse before it gets better. This election will not save us. Now I hope that we can harness the energy of this moment and not collectively think that everything is going to be ok. I’m done with just ok being the bar we set. I just want people to stay in the fight.”
— Ashley Pizzuti, Higher Ed Organizer
“ Medical professionals were big winners in the midterms! People like Dr. Abdul El Sayed, Dr. Amy Acton, and others inspired me. Healthcare workers need to organize themselves. For one, healthcare is the largest employer in the country, especially after the fall of manufacturing — capitalists moved many manufacturing jobs abroad to further exploit people. So healthcare workers have enormous power to change the healthcare system and to improve labor conditions across the working class.
It’s exciting that more clinicians are involved in politics, fighting against RFK Jr. But I also think it’ll be important for us to form organizations independent of the Democratic Party to hold power accountable without compromising ties to the system. ” — Emily Birnbaum, Medical Debt Organizer
“Debt was rarely mentioned this election cycle directly, but it haunted the proceedings. Much of the talk was about “affordability” and the high cost of health care and lack of good jobs, which is all important. But for most people, those issues show up as rising debt loads — groceries, medical care, and rent covered by high-cost credit. One of our jobs now is to make the undercurrent a clarion part of the national economic conversation and to insist that debt relief, coupled with real investment in social goods, needs to be a core component of any credible affordability agenda. We also need to articulate the connections between the absurd and immoral.
AI and data center build-out and rising interest rates. Tech executives and their political allies are allocating trillions of dollars to anti-human infrastructure. That’s money that should fund life-sustaining social services, and we’re all paying the price. Finally, as I’ve argued elsewhere, we need to get ready for the AI bubble possibly popping. The Debt Collective was born in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, and debtors need to be organized and ready for the next crisis so that people are bailed out, not the corporate criminals who got us into this mess.”
— Astra Taylor, Co-Founder and Author
“From Brazil to Argentina, in France and Spain, found in India and Kenya, and yesterday in the heartland and cities of the United States, a global debt abolition movement is gaining momentum. The neoliberals buried us in debt. The fascists counted on our anticipatory obedience. But in all corners of the country, and from one sea to another, debtors have said “Enough!” We are the ones we have been waiting for. This is the moment to seize. They tried to bury us in debt, but they united the people who will dig the grave of capitalism.”
— Jason Wozniak, Higher Ed Organizer and Researcher