What to Do With Trump’s Ballroom? 2028 Democrats Are Split.

The Democrats who may run for president in 2028 hate President Donald Trump’s ballroom. They just don’t know what to do with it if they win.

NOTUS reached out to potential Democratic hopefuls across Washington and the country about what should become of Trump’s pet project. Only two suggested a total teardown.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) called the ballroom “dirty.”

“It’s being built with corrupt money, and it will always be dirty,” he told NOTUS. “So I’m not sure that a president who cares about ferreting out corruption is going to be able to keep that ballroom standing.”

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) was aligned. “I think we have to be ready to really wipe out any of the illegal acts that this president has done, and that includes any of these architectural enhancements,” he told NOTUS.

When asked if he wanted to use the same funds that built the ballroom to tear it down, he responded: “We’ll sell it piece by piece.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told NOTUS he assumes all future presidential candidates are going to be pressed over what to do with the ballroom — but he’s not open to destroying what’s already built at the White House.

“I just have a vision — and I’m not included in it — but I just see 20 people up on stage, or a dozen people on the stage, and all of them are going to be asked to raise their hand, ‘Would you commit to — ?’ and I imagine that’s going to be one of those little litmus-test things that everyone’s going to have to commit to,” he said.

“But destruction is not strength,” Newsom added. “We have to be builders. What’s destroyed, history can’t be replaced, so even if you tore it down again, what do you rebuild in its place?”

The project, which Trump initially said would be privately funded at a cost of roughly $150 million, has ballooned dramatically since its inception. His administration has since requested $1 billion in taxpayer funding to finish it.

“If there is a ballroom, we turn it into a soup kitchen,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) told NOTUS. “No, no, we turn it into a community center. I don’t know what you do with that much space.”

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg similarly said the real question isn’t whether to tear it down, but what responsible use of the space would look like — warning that the next president “should not be putting taxpayer money into a triumphal arch to honor the current president.”

“I’m more interested in what it is that we’re building,” he told NOTUS. “And if they build something stupid, maybe the best thing we can do is reuse it for something better.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) kept the focus on the broader message he wants Democrats to send.

“We should be improving the economic life for Americans,” he said. “That should be our message.”

Democrats broadly believe that the ballroom project — like much of Trump’s planned remodeling of Washington — is a symbol of Trump’s priorities, the kind of thing that can give them a boost this November when put up against the high cost of living.

What began as a relatively obscure construction project has evolved into a central talking point for Democrats heading into this year’s midterms. Democrats are betting that the White House ballroom can do what years of corruption messaging couldn’t: give voters something tangible to be angry about heading into the midterms.

“It reminds voters that what this president is focused on,” Gallego told NOTUS. “The White House and Republicans are focused on taking care of themselves, taking care of the little pet projects.”

“I think the abuse of power is what should be the talking point,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Murphy argued the ballroom works as a message precisely because it’s concrete. Abstract corruption arguments have long struggled to cut through with voters, he said, but a White House ballroom paid for by taxpayers is something people can picture.

“People just don’t understand why he’s spending all his time building a ballroom asking taxpayers to pay for it instead of lowering costs,” Murphy said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) called the project an exhibit in a broader argument that Trump “cares only about enriching himself and his family and his billionaire buddies at the expense of the country.”

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado) argued the ballroom only lands as a talking point if it’s tethered to the kitchen-table consequences his constituents are feeling.

“It’s not about one particular incident,” Crow told NOTUS. “It’s about the unbelievable corruption that’s stealing from American taxpayers.”