The mainstream political press loves to highlight the differences within the Democratic Party, usually presenting them as some sort of open warfare between opposing factions. But while there are indeed issues that polarize Democratic politicians and voters (support for Israel, for one), there is also an underlying consensus building within the party on a big issue that is much more relevant for most voters. And it has proven to be a winning issue for both progressive and moderate Democrats alike, because it affects everybody.

The media loves obsessing about all the socialists in the Democratic Party, and the Republicans are already trying to take this a step further by darkly warning of communism taking over America if Democrats win in November. But these scary labels don't pack the same punch as they used to, and more and more voters are actually listening to what Democrats have to say on the subject of economic populism.

Whether they use buzzwords like "affordability" or just talk about the cost of living, Democrats are offering voters actual policy initiatives that address how expensive life now is in America, and how more and more people are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Republicans certainly don't have any answers to any of it -- they'd much prefer to toss around scary words and focus on culture war issues that have nothing to do with the kitchen table issues that voters are most concerned with right now.

It doesn't even really matter whether it is a Democratic Socialist or a middle-of-the-road centrist Democrat talking, because when you look beyond the labels you'll find that they are now saying almost exactly the same things. Economic populism and fighting big corporations isn't just the purview of Bernie Sanders and his ilk any more, it was central to the campaigns of Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, who respectively won the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey last year. Both are considered moderate Democrats, not radical lefties. They addressed the same economic issues that the progressives have been championing, and they both handily won their races.

I was reminded of this when I saw a recent article that highlighted a Senate race that hasn't gotten much attention in the media. But whether the rest of the media is paying attention or not, other Democratic candidates should take note because of the simplicity of this Democratic candidate's message (emphasis in original):

There are politicians who traffic in impassioned oratory or contagious fervor or ingenious catchphrases. Then there's Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee in the crucial U.S. Senate contest in North Carolina. His campaign slogan is so prosaic, so blunt, so gruff that every time I see it, I do a double take, wondering if it's some parody or I'm hallucinating.

Make Stuff Cost Less. That's it. He even calls his campaign schedule the Make Stuff Cost Less tour, as if he's Bon Jovi or Bad Bunny, poised to perform his greatest hits. Except he's going to talk about, you know, stuff. And making it cost less. Because who's not in favor of that?

Roy Cooper had an excellent chance of winning even before he came up with this slogan, it is worth pointing out. He served as North Carolina's governor for two terms, showing that he knows how to win statewide races. In fact, this race is crucial to Democratic hopes of flipping control of the Senate, and Cooper has a very good chance of picking up the seat that Republican Thom Tillis is vacating.

Cooper doesn't just have a good slogan or crowd-pleasing lines in his speeches ("For so many North Carolina families, there's just too much month at the end of the money"). He's also got a detailed policy platform with all kinds of proposals to make stuff cost less. Here are just a few of them, from his campaign website's "Make Stuff Cost Less" issues page:

• Ban algorithms on grocery pricing to make it illegal for companies to raise the price of groceries based on a specific customer.
• Let doctors decide about health care, not insurance bureaucrats.
• Crack down on pharmacy benefit managers and their middlemen who put small town pharmacists out of business and pocket savings instead of passing them along to patients.
• Cap annual prescription drug out-of-pocket costs for consumers.
• Make sure data centers pay the full cost of all the power they use and prevent costs from being passed on to consumers.
• Reduce utility costs for consumers by working to encourage large tech companies to build their own energy sources.
• Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit to support working families and put money back in people's pockets.
• End Tariffs Driving Up Prices for Building Materials.

This is just a sampling -- Cooper's got other good ideas as well. As you can see, he's not as far left as Bernie or Elizabeth Warren, but his platform is still in the same ballpark as theirs. Voters are fed up with giant corporations ripping them off, and they are looking for political candidates who acknowledge that anger with some concrete plans to solve some of the most egregious economic problems voters face.

This is all part of an ongoing shift in the Democratic Party, as the political pendulum swings back from where it was during Bill Clinton's time in office. Back then, Democrats bent over backwards to be as business-friendly as they possibly could, instead of championing the working class. Moving away from that is no more than a return to the historic roots of an earlier Democratic Party -- one that put hardworking families first. This shift was made possible by the success of Bernie Sanders and others like him in generating real voter enthusiasm. At first, the Democratic establishment fought back hard against Bernie's economic populism, but now even Democratic centrists have gotten on board a worker-friendly style of politics.

It's not just progressives, either. Donald Trump won both his campaigns by promising to lower costs on everything. His was an economic populism message from the right, and Republicans are now extremely vulnerable precisely because Trump simply has not delivered on his "Only I can fix it" promises. In fact, pretty much everything Trump has done while in office this time around has sent prices upwards -- and the voters have noticed in a big way.

It's not just all of Trump's unkept promises that are dragging Republicans down, it's also that he increasingly just blurts out how little he cares about the economic pain his own voters are experiencing. He's much more concerned with his own pet issues (building a ballroom, waging a war with Iran that has sent gas prices skyrocketing, obsessing over his loss in the 2020 election, etc.), much to his fellow Republicans' dismay.

This has all left a gigantic opening for Democrats. And for once, they're admirably taking advantage of Trump's (and the Republicans') weakness. If Democrats can do so using simple language that everyone can relate to while offering some solid solutions to the biggest problems, then they stand an excellent chance of winning this November. It's time for Democrats to ditch all the fancy high-priced political consultants and instead speak plainly about what they intend to do. Roy Cooper has come up with the best slogan yet to drive this point home, which is why other Democrats should emulate his campaign strategy. Because "make stuff cost less" doesn't need explanation or translation -- everyone instantly knows what it means.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant