Where are the conviction politicians we need?
I’ve been thinking lately about Mike Synar. For those of you not old enough to remember, he was an exceptional member of Congress in the 1980s and 90s. He was also my next door neighbor on Capitol Hill.
For eight terms in the House, Mike represented Oklahoma’s Second Congressional District — a rural, conservative, heavily gun-owning, tobacco- and cattle-dependent stretch of eastern Oklahoma.
Mike challenged the tobacco industry from a tobacco-growing region, pushed for gun violence reforms in a district with a large NRA membership, fought to raise federal grazing fees despite coming from a ranching family. He lost his 1994 re-election campaign. Days later, we ran into each other on the sidewalk. I said I was sorry to hear about his defeat.
His response: “Don’t be sorry, Frank. I stood up for what I believed in as long as they would let me. And that’s all you can ask.”
Those are the words of a conviction politician. Mike’s style of leadership stands in sharp contrast to the gutless, unprincipled, finger-to-the-wind behavior of so many politicians in the Trump era.
Sadly, we lost Mike to brain cancer just a year later. But not before he accepted the Kennedy Library’s Profile in Courage Award with these prophetic words: “I believe America and, yes, the world, needs bold, dynamic leadership unafraid of the risks. Without such courageous leadership, truth indeed will be snuffed out by fear and silence.”
The Trust Deficit in Today’s Politics
According to a 2025 Pew Center, just 17% of Americans now say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right “just about always” (2%) or “most of the time” (15%). That’s the lowest in seven decades. And when it comes to politicians, another study reports that only seven percent of U.S. respondents say they trust politicians – making it the least trusted profession in the country.
The reason in a nutshell: Too few Mike Synars and too many “finger to the wind” politicians. The declining trust in politicians has been well-earned. That’s true not only for Republicans who have spent a decade in cynical silence in the face of every Trump outrage. It’s also true of “play it safe” Democratic leaders who have failed to rise to the occasion.
Indeed, the dividing line that matters most in Democratic politics isn’t moderates versus progressives. It’s conviction politicians willing to fight for what they believe in versus cautious politicians waiting around for the political winds to shift.
It’s the dividing line that must define efforts to settle on a new leader of the Democratic Party in 2027 and 2028.