Mullin: ‘Failure is not an option’

But amidst a rapid consolidation of power from the Trump administration, a Republican majority in Congress content to facilitate the accession and a president Mullin termed as authoritarian, he said there’s few other options.

“I’ve been criticized for focusing too much on the 2026 election. In my way of thinking, this is the ballgame in 2026, and it sets the stage for 2028,” Mullin said. “We have to win the House. This is not optional. We have to win the House to be a check on an authoritarian presidency.”

Just how Democrats will muster that feat remains an open question. Mullin said he’s supportive of California’s ongoing effort to redistrict five House seats in favor of Democrats, a response to a recent Texas play to gerrymander five of its own districts in Republican favor.

Given increasingly aggressive Republican power grabs, Democrats need to make a successful case that in one branch of government, at least, they require a majority to check the Trump administration, Mullin said.

“Failure is not an option,” he said. “I am confident that we’re going to prevail in 2026, but I absolutely am kept up at night because of what I see are enormous challenges for this country going forward.”

In reality, however, Mullin is cognizant of the fact that the issues of economic affordability are the ones that will sway American votes.

“I think people are most concerned about their day-to-day economic well-being. We are in the epicenter of the affordability crisis here,” he said. “Where we live is so expensive, and people want to know that their government, at all levels, is being responsive to their day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month challenges.”

As the minority party, proving to voters that Democrats can act on the cost-of-living crisis — beyond heated critiques of Republican bills that will slash Medicaid and food assistance and into the tangible — is the penultimate challenge.

Mullin has put up some attempts of his own to make economic accessibility resources more obtainable to his constituents and to Americans at large, starting with a bill that would raise the poverty line to reflect modern costs of living.

He’s aware that without bipartisan support, however, this particular piece of legislation could take years, if not decades, to enact.

“In an ideal world, you have bipartisan support for your bills that ensures they can get a hearing and ensures that there’s movement,” he said. “I have also learned, though, that the larger the change, the more challenging it is to enact. The most powerful thing in politics is the status quo.”

Within a federal government that’s drawn increasingly on party lines, Mullin has still been working on alternative bills that might gain bipartisan support, he said. One piece of legislation, co-authored by a Republican colleague, would map, forecast and study groundwater rise and develop mitigation strategies.

“I’ve had to be very careful in how I talk about climate change. Some of my Republican colleagues bristle at that. But the reality is, their communities are dealing with very similar kinds of issues to my district,” he said. “Trying to kind of dial down the partisan nature … and build a coalition of support, I’m optimistic that we will make some progress.”

His day-to-day policy work, including on earthquake resilience and modernizing transportation policy, often comes from understanding the needs of his district, platforming the strengths on a federal scale and convincing others that they, too, could benefit from it.

“I very much focused my legislative agenda on the needs of my district,” he said. “These are all issues I think I can build coalitions on.”

It’s been a challenging past year for Mullin, with four knee surgeries and personal health challenges under his belt. But he remains undaunted, he said, in playing his part as an advocate for the Democratic party, as well as small-d democratic values.

“I think the Democratic Party is the best hope for our democracy to succeed, to survive what are very clearly authoritarian attacks. Because my Republican colleagues are not standing up. My Democratic colleagues are,” he said.