October 30, 2026 — Democracy is a kitchen-table issue — inseparable from affording groceries, getting health care and earning a fair paycheck, Skye Perryman, Founder and CEO of Democracy Forward, told delegates in this year’s Convention keynote address.
“You can’t have a conversation about affordability without having a conversation about democracy, but you can’t have a conversation about democracy without talking about and working for the real-life things that impact people,” she said.
Perryman said Americans’ top concerns are the economy and affordability, threats to democracy, and health care. Half of Americans are extremely concerned about affording gas, and many worry about affording food.
Rising U.S. wealth inequality is straining democracy, Perryman said, pointing to Jan. 6, 2021, when the country was added to a global list of backsliding democracies.
Perryman said democracy comes under strain when governments struggle to deliver for people and economic opportunity is uneven.
The events of Jan. 6 didn’t land the U.S. on the list, Perryman said. Contributing factors include a Supreme Court that more often reverses rights than protects them; a Congress international researchers call dysfunctional; and rising state and local extremism.
Perryman said deep economic divides fuel polarization and allow anti-democratic actors to exploit hardship. “Once you’re in a backsliding democracy, there’s a playbook that people who want to take away our rights follow,” she said.
Perryman called the civil service and a strong labor movement among democracy’s “biggest defenses.”
“One of the biggest defenses against autocracy, one of the biggest defenses against the consolidation of power, is people like you who every day go to work to serve people, to do your job,” she said.
Democracy Forward and AFT are bringing lawsuits on various fronts, but working people can make real change. Perryman said delegates’ advocacy for New York public employees is bringing hope to public employees nationwide.
But solidarity’s power requires action.
“Our power is not self-executing,” she said. Perryman urged delegates to speak out and take extra action to stop further democratic backsliding.
Editor’s Note: Perryman’s book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times, was published in August and is a New York Times bestseller. It combines personal stories with practical how-to guides that empower readers to take action in their own communities.