Potty-Mouthed Democrats Use Profanity in Attempt to Snag Votes

The typically euphemistic language of politics is increasingly being replaced by profanity as the midterms loom and Democrat candidates are dropping F-bombs and other expletives in their ads and appearances.

The trend is not limited to campaigning. Certain words such as “ass” and “pissed,” previously unheard for decades in the stodgy Capitol, are making their appearance in speeches on the floors of Congress.

One lawmaker, Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett, has drawn extensive media coverage as she’s forged a reputation using the kind of language one expects to hear in the mean streets.

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One lexicography expert says the trend is born out of frustration. Michael Adams, author of In Praise of Profanity, told the Hill, “I think that in the case of the Democratic candidates … the swearing reflects their sense of crisis. There’s just a point at which the usual vocabulary will not be sufficiently expressive in the moment.”

But others say it is a cynical attempt to snag voters. A spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee hit back, arguing that Democrats “seem obsessed with saying ‘f—ing’ and ‘a–’ as the strategy to win back the voters that rejected them in 2024.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency hearing on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, February 12, 2025, in Washington. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP)

In recent weeks, a number of newly launched Democrat hopefuls for key House and Senate seats have thrown down with profanity, though some bleep out a portion of the swear word.

That is the case with Mike Sacks, who is running for Congress from New York and pledged on X to “unf*k our country.”

However, Illinois Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh did not bleep or flinch in her X post as she told her party to “grow a fucking spine.”

Neither does her campaign manager, Sam Weinberg, who told the Hill, “Lots of candidates use haughty, stilted language that sounds out of touch and even alienating. Kat sounds like a real person — and real people are fucking fed up with the status quo.”

Democrat Nathan Sage appeared to draw on his language as a Marine vet, a mechanic, and a sports radio host as he launched his campaign last week, saying that farmers have been “f*ed over” and vowing to “kick corporate Republican [Sen.] Joni Ernsts’s a**” in November.

His highly polished ad, however, bleeps out the actual words:

Some blame Donald Trump, no stranger to cursing in some of his 2016 and 2024 campaign rallies, for the trend. The Hill reported:

Research conducted by The Hill and GovPredict back in 2019 found the incidence of curse words from lawmakers on the social media site then-called Twitter, for example, jumped dramatically in the first year of President Trump’s first term. The New York Times dubbed Trump at the time as “the profanity president,” spotlighting his frequent use of four-letter insults.

However, while Trump’s rally profanity appeared spontaneous, that’s not the case in ads by Democrat candidates. Dems are facing historically low polling numbers and are seen as out of touch with working class voters.

Ben Bergen, professor of cognitive science at University of California San Diego and the author of a book about swearing, said, “The linguistic choices that professional politicians make are extremely tightly crafted. It would surprise me if, for many of them, they were sort of stumbling into accidentally using profanity. The use is probably, in most cases, something that’s strategic.”

Lowell Cauffiel covered national politics as a Detroit News reporter and is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.