Since the 2024 elections, Democrats in or seeking office have tried hard to stick to the new playbook: Focus on pocketbook worries, criticize President Trump if you must, but for the love of all that is sacred, avoid the social issues that Republicans have used to paint the party as out of touch — and maybe even a little weird.

A new animal rights measure in Oregon has Democratic leaders like Gov. Tina Kotek going out on a limb. They want voters to know they’re just as committed to killing animals as Republicans.

The measure, known for now as Initiative Petition 28, is the stuff of political nightmares for Democratic leaders in Washington. It would give all animals the same protections from cruelty that Oregon grants dogs and cats, and in the process remake the state’s economy and dinner plates. Hunting, trapping and fishing would be outlawed, along with scientific research on animals, lethal pest control and conventional livestock production.

The goal, said David Michelson, a substitute teacher, vegan and the petition’s organizer, “is to have a system where we’re not killing or hurting animals anymore.”

Democrats in Oregon are fleeing Mr. Michelson faster than Bambi’s mother tried to escape the hunter, or perhaps faster than James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, reached for a barbecued hunk of meat to prove he’s not vegetarian.

“No establishment Democrat in Oregon would ever support this,” said John Horvick, senior vice president with the polling firm DHM Research. Still, he added, “Republicans see this as an opportunity to say, Look at those crazy Democrats being weirdos again.”