In 2016, I knocked on a number of doors where people told me they didn’t think either candidate would do anything for them, so they weren’t voting. After Donald Trump was elected we heard many of his supporters saying they felt unseen in our politics. They aren’t alone. Many low-income and working-class people – black, Latinx, Native, Asian, as well as many white folks – feel unseen in our politics.

We often bemoan the low voting rates in this country, and we try to fix it with more money for voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives. These are important strategies and I support them, but they don’t address the more fundamental fact that people do not see themselves or their concerns represented in our politics.

That is why People’s Action, the working-class people’s organization where I serve as director, has created a new kind of presidential debate. Last month, more than 2,000 people gathered in person – with thousands more watching via the Guardian’s live stream – for a People’s Presidential Forum in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted by People’s Action, Iowa CCI Action Fund and Student Action.

In a candidate-centric political culture, we want to make sure that we can hear the voices of the people, not just the voices of candidates. This radical approach seems to be working. The Nation’s John Nichols described the People’s Presidential Forum with a word not often associated with politics: “poignant”.

Nichols writes: “The format – the most impressive I have seen at a forum so far this year – had the candidates listen to testimony from immigrants, refugees, fast-food workers, daughters caring for ailing parents, moms struggling to find adequate housing, and people who have been racially profiled. Farmers who were well into their eighties and LGBTQ+ students who were just into their 20s asked precise questions about issues raised by the testimony. There were no moderators, no panels of cable news show hosts, no ‘gotcha’ questions.”

In a much-needed twist, we asked candidates to agree that there would be no stump speeches – or any speeches, for that matter

The forum was emceed by Barb Kalbach, a fourth-generation family farmer, registered nurse and Iowa CCI Action Fund board president. She was joined by Lizeth Chacón, director of Colorado People’s Action, who moved to the United States from Mexico when she was 12. Lizeth’s father has worked at a meat-packing plant for 19 years, and her mother has struggled with punishing medical debt. And, like many in mixed-status families, Lizeth has lost family members to deportation in the last year.

In a much-needed twist, we asked candidates to agree that there would be no stump speeches – or any speeches, for that matter. Big kudos goes out to Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for agreeing to this format.

Candidates spent roughly the same amount of time listening as talking, and all their answers had to respond to personal experiences from everyday people from all walks of life.

Dana Burtness, a Minnesota family farmer and member of Land Stewardship Action, described how a 5,000-sow factory farm fouled the waterways near her home and asked Warren how she plans to save family farms from extinction.

“We’re gonna break up big ag,” Warren told her. “We have the laws to break up big ag, and I have the courage to enforce these laws. We’re going to adopt the policies that will let our farmers be good stewards of the earth, and we need Washington to be a good partner in this.”

Kelvin Dunigan, a member of Iowa CCI Action, told Buttigieg how he was racially profiled by Des Moines police. He felt humiliated, and feared for his life.

“This is about whether community members feel that they can trust those who are sworn to keep them safe, and whether there will continue to be systematic disempowerment of black people in our country,” Buttigieg answered. Buttigieg has joined the call to ban racial profiling in Des Moines.

Lillian Cheesman is a member of Citizen Action of Wisconsin who told Castro how she now has to work from home so she can care for her mom, who has Alzheimer’s.

“I need what millions need,” Cheesman told Castro. “I need respite care a few hours every day, I need some help to coordinate and connect with resources. I need for those resources to actually exist, because I’ve been handed phone numbers that go to dead lines.”

Castro listened, then endorsed Lillian’s call for Universal Family Care.

“I want to make sure that as the baby boomer generation turns 65, we have a plan to make sure they’re well taken care of. And that includes a place to live, it includes good healthcare,” Castro answered.

Juliza Cortes shared how she had walked 2,000 miles to escape gang violence in El Salvador, only to be forced to sleep standing up in a cell with 17 other pregnant women. Sanders listened attentively to Juliza, and apologized to her. “We have a president who believes he can win re-election by demonizing, by criminalizing you,” he said. Then he pledged to fight for comprehensive immigration reform and abolish Immigration Customs and Enforcement (Ice).

If we truly want more people to engage in elections, we need to center people in the process. As many said at the forum, we have found the leaders we are looking for, and it’s not the candidates, it’s all of us.

Our next People’s Forum will be in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 26 October.

George Goehl is the director of People’s Action