Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told a friendly crowd his party has space for Republicans—by name. He targeted Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, pitching Democrats as the home for anyone who backs the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Jamie Raskin said, “We are a big tent,” referring to the Democratic Party.

Jamie Raskin said, “We must be a huge, vast tent. I say that this is the party that’s got room for Marjorie Taylor Greene if she wants to come over. We got room for anybody who wants to stand up for the Constitution and for the Bill of Rights today.”

He made the case while speaking at a Miami-Dade Democratic fundraiser. He is the lead Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and served as lead impeachment manager against President Donald Trump in 2021. He also previously led Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

Raskin told a story about a GOP colleague to make his next point. He used it to redefine himself and rebrand his party.

Jamie Raskin said that Trey Gowdy told him, “‘Raskin, you’re not a bad guy. The problem with you is that you’re a liberal,’”

Jamie Raskin said, “You’re damn right I’m a liberal. The heart of that word is ‘liberty.’ And I’m a progressive because the heart of that word is ‘progress.’”

Then he pushed even further, claiming the conservative label for Democrats while painting Republicans as “authoritarians.”

Jamie Raskin said, “But my favorite thing to call myself today is a conservative because I want to conserve the land, the air, the water, the climate system, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act,”

Jamie Raskin said, “The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Voting Rights Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act,” and added, “Everything that party of authoritarians wants to destroy is everything we’re going to conserve and defend in America. We are the party of conservatives, the liberals and the progressives, all of the patriots today are in the party of democracy.”

While Raskin rolled out the welcome mat, President Trump pulled his support from one of his loudest backers. He said he won’t back Marjorie Taylor Greene’s reelection bid and urged a primary challenge in her deep-red district.

Donald Trump wrote that Greene is “wacky,” a “ranting Lunatic,” and had “gone Far Left,” citing her recent appearance on ABC’s “The View.” He added that if the right challenger runs, they will have his “Complete and Unyielding Support.”

He pushed again the next day with a harsher jab.

Donald Trump wrote, “Lightweight Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Brown (Green grass turns Brown when it begins to ROT!), betrayed the entire Republican Party when she turned Left, performed poorly on the pathetic View, and became the RINO [Republican in name only] that we all know she always was,”

Greene answered in a national interview. She said she still supports Trump and his administration. She also criticized how the Epstein files were handled and blasted a meeting with the Syrian president on the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary.

The backstory matters. Greene, once a star of the House Freedom Caucus, was booted from the group in 2023. Now she faces fire from both the right and the left.

Raskin’s “vast tent” pitch is timed to that opening. He wants defectors. He also wants to brand Republicans as the party of control while Democrats claim the mantle of liberty and, as he put it, “conserve” long-standing laws and programs.

The venue he chose was friendly and loud. But the offer he made was specific. He used Greene’s name on purpose.

Trump’s response made the target even clearer. A former ally he once praised now faces his full force. Primary talk in a safe Republican district is a serious threat.

Voters will see two paths. One is a Democrat saying there is room for anyone who agrees with his list. The other is a Republican president saying he’ll back a challenger to a sitting GOP member who crossed him.

This is how party realignments start—one invite, one rebuke, and a lot of voters caught in between.