While Democrats campaign on affordability, gas prices, and household costs, prominent party figures are also promoting a far-left governing agenda that reaches well beyond those pocketbook themes.

As Just The News reported, the proposals include expanding the Supreme Court, changing the Electoral College, and granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

Former presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris laid out those priorities during an appearance on the "Baby, This Is Keke Palmer" podcast posted Tuesday. She described what a Democrat controlled Congress should try to advance if the party regains power.

"I believe that we need to expand the Supreme Court. We need more justices," Harris said. She also discussed more affordable housing and healthcare, along with the high cost of "groceries and gas."

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Harris additionally endorsed pursuing statehood for two heavily discussed jurisdictions. "If the folks [in Congress] want it, we should push for statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.," she said.

KAMALA HARRIS JUST TOLD YOU WHAT DEMOCRATS DO IF THEY TAKE CONGRESS. On Keke Palmer's podcast she said "we need to expand the Supreme Court," pushed changing the Electoral College, and called for DC and Puerto Rico statehood. That is four new Democrat Senate seats and a packed court. Keep it at nine justices. Who's with me?

— ThePatriot (@ThePatriotTea) October 15, 2026

Those comments appear to diverge from the message House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently identified as the common theme for Democratic candidates in 2026. His public pitch focused squarely on costs facing voters.

“Fighting for an affordable America – that’s what unites Democrats all across the country,” Jeffries said at the party campaign headquarters in Washington. Other Democrats, however, have been much more candid about the party’s ambitions if it captures Congress and the White House.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville said that if Democrats win both chambers and then capture the White House in 2028, they should “make Puerto Rico [and] D.C. a state, and they should expand the Supreme Court to 13” on day one. His campaign advice was blunt: “Don’t run on it. Don’t talk about it. Just do it.”

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Rep. James Clyburn, D S.C., endorsed the same proposed court expansion during an appearance on Meet the Press. He called a 13-justice court, compared with the current nine seats, “a pretty good number” and a “baker’s dozen.”

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, introduced legislation in May that would increase the number of Supreme Court seats to 13. Green subsequently lost his reelection bid in a party primary, and it remains unclear whether another House Democrat will take up the issue.

Washington, D.C., statehood also remains a standing Democratic priority through the Washington, D.C. Admission Act. The measure would create two new Senate seats and one House seat for a district that votes overwhelmingly Democratic.

These proposals have circulated among Democratic figures for years, but control of Congress would make them considerably more viable. Adding Senate seats and restructuring the Supreme Court would carry consequences far beyond the affordability message Democrats are emphasizing before voters.

If Democrats reclaim the House majority on Nov. 3, even by a narrow margin, several measures that fell short during the current 119th Congress could advance. Voting records and discharge petition tallies show that some proposals missed passage or procedural thresholds by only a handful of votes.

One is a three-year extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. Democrats pushed the measure toward a House vote through a discharge petition, and it later passed 230 to 196.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the extension would add $80.6 billion to the deficit between 2026 and 2035. A permanent extension is projected to cost roughly $350 billion across a decade.

The subsidies lack meaningful income caps and would likely support higher marketplace premiums without addressing underlying cost drivers, while shifting more of the burden to taxpayers. With a narrow Democratic majority, the proposal would face little House resistance after previously needing Republican crossover votes to advance.

The American Dream and Promise Act, H.R. 1589, also came close to forcing a floor vote after a discharge petition collected roughly 210 signatures. It would provide a pathway to permanent status for certain Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status holders.

Many Republicans argue that the measure would reward illegal entry, expand future chain migration, and increase demand on federal programs without adding border security requirements.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that prior similar legislation would add more than $30 billion in deficit spending, largely through expanded access to Medicaid, CHIP, and other benefits.

A congressional stock trading ban could also move under a Democratic House. Although the idea attracted substantial bipartisan support through a discharge petition, it did not receive enough signatures to force a vote under the current majority.

Critics say Democratic versions have tried to extend restrictions to the president and executive branch in ways that could be selectively used for political advantage rather than establishing consistent rules across government. A Democratic majority would almost certainly have enough signatures to bring a version to the floor.

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