Congressman Brandon Gill (R-TX) warned Thursday that, despite what many conservatives believe, left-wing “wokeness” has not been defeated but is lying dormant, waiting to reemerge.
The election of Donald Trump in 2024 was a decisive rebuke of Democrats, particularly then-Vice President Kamala Harris. But treating that victory as a death blow to wokeness was a mistake.
A presidential term lasts just four years, little time in political terms for an entrenched ideology to regroup. Consider the candidates Democrats are elevating: Zohran Mamdani, Graham Platner, Karen Bass, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and others. These are not moderate Democrats; they represent the party’s more progressive wing. If Republicans fail to maintain power, it could create an opening for those ideas to regain dominance in public life.
Conservatives like to say “woke is dead” but it’s not dead; it’s merely dormant.
— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) June 4, 2026
Woke is central to leftwing ideology and wreaked unimaginable pain during Biden’s time in office.
We can’t let it happen again. Stay in the fight. pic.twitter.com/L1Qf6m6EhE
"The four years that we suffered under Biden, when Democrats were in power and were flooding the country with illegals, whenever woke was ascendant, all that can come back if Democrats take power again," Gill said. "I mean, we like to say woke is dead, but woke is not dead. That is something at the core of left-wing ideology. They're not backing away from that. They may be a lot more silent, but they're not backing away from that."
"And we've got a few good people in Congress who are willing to fight for it, fight against wokeness, who are willing to fight against mass migration. But we've got to be able to continue doing that work through after the midterms too," he added. "So its really important that Republicans are able to keep control of the House. And if we are, I think we'll see a lot of these investigations, for instance, continue into the next two years."
The Trump administration has challenged universities' diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the private sector, transgender policies in K–12 education and collegiate sports, and illegal immigration. But these institutions can simply wait President Trump out.
As Rep. Gill argues, wokeness is a core part of the Democratic Party’s ideology, and it is unlikely to disappear overnight. The fight against it is likely to continue until the party undergoes a fundamental reformation, one that will not begin unless and until it begins it's shifts toward moderatio. And that future seems far from likely.