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For years, Democratic leaders have cast their party as a firewall against the threats to American democracy they argue are posed by President Trump and his political movement. With their fierce opposition to Mr. Trump, Democrats became the party of institutional preservation, championing political norms, expertise, and the role of the federal government.

But with Republicans now in control of Washington, many Democratic politicians are trying to revamp their image with promises to upend existing power structures, whether they are the Trump administration, Congress or even their own party orthodoxy. It is a message for an electorate that barely trusts government, politicians, or Washington to accomplish any change at all.

“I took on the powerful and corrupt Democrats,” Mayor Paige Cognetti of Scranton, a Democrat running for a swing House seat in northeast Pennsylvania, said in a video announcing her run that was widely praised across her party. “We can stand tall against a Washington that takes advantage of working people.”

Combating a ‘Corrupt System’

But changing the party’s image won’t be easy for Democrats.

For much of the past year, they have fiercely opposed efforts by the Trump administration to drastically cut the size of the federal government. They have protested the shuttering of agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development, defended federal workers, and backed lawsuits filed by federal unions and advocacy groups.

Democrats know that those actions have affected how voters view their party. In the spring, congressional lawmakers were briefed in private meetings on polling by Navigator Research, a progressive public opinion firm, showing that a majority of voters described Democrats as focused on “preserving the way government works,” while only 20 percent said the same of Republicans, according to slides of the presentation given to The New York Times.

The challenge Democrats face is how to simultaneously defend government institutions that Mr. Trump is trying to gut while also offering a forward-looking message that resonates with voters who believe politics and democracy are broken.

“We have to embrace the need for change and reform. At the same time, I’m not interested in throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” said Representative Jason Crow of Colorado, a Democrat chosen by his party’s House campaign arm to recruit candidates. “We end programs that aren’t working, we reform agencies that are not delivering, and then we preserve those that are.”

Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California who is trying to position himself as a leader of his party, said Democrats needed to do more than simply oppose Mr. Trump to restore the trust and support of voters.

“We can’t start with just, ‘We want to return to normalcy,’” he said. “What we need is a vision for change and holding elites accountable that is consistent with our values and our Constitution, and that we have a positive vision of building things up, not just a negative vision of tearing things down.”

What that vision is, exactly, remains unclear. Deep divisions on policy issues, including taxes and the role of money in politics, are already dividing the party in increasingly contentious primary races across the country.

Government-Critical Veterans of Government

Many Democratic candidates believe they will connect with voters better if they start by acknowledging that government — including their own party — has not always worked. The problem is that many of those candidates have been part of state and federal government for years.

In Minnesota, both Democrats competing for the state’s open Senate seat have cast themselves as independent-minded fighters eager to upend the status quo.

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“The Democratic Party should be leading, rather than just saying: ‘No, no, no. Status quo, status quo,’” Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, left, said in May. Next to her on the Capitol steps is Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey.Credit…Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times

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