Democrats stay in a funk greater than a month after gut-punch losses to President-elect Donald Trump and his Republican allies, a leaderless occasion heading towards Inauguration Day and shortly with out management of the White Home and each chambers on Capitol Hill.
“We do not know what is going on to occur subsequent,” Donna Brazile, a longtime Democratic political strategist and former interim occasion chairwoman, advised USA TODAY. “None of this has been in our playbook.”
In the mean time, Democrats haven’t got an agreed-upon, top-down technique. For now, they’re resound largely to attaboys from the likes of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala, who inspired the occasion trustworthy to maintain their chin up at a latest Democratic Nationwide Committee occasion for donors.
“My dad would say, whenever you get knocked down, you have simply acquired to rise up, rise up,” mentioned Biden, who bowed out of the 2024 contest this summer season, largely on the behest of huge givers. “The measure of an individual or a celebration is how briskly they rise up.”
“Our spirit is just not defeated,” added Harris, who inherited her occasion’s presidential nomination from Biden after which went on to lose all seven swing states this fall.
Right here is a few of what lies forward for the opposition occasion in 2025.
DNC chair race begins reboot
One of many first massive duties will likely be selecting a alternative for outgoing Democratic Nationwide Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, who telegraphed his departure earlier than the presidential election’s end result.
And not using a president, Home speaker or Senate majority chief of their management ranks, the chair will likely be a crucial face of the Democratic Get together, serving as its chief messenger for no less than the following two years heading into the 2026 mid-term election. However the function additionally requires an individual with a thoughts for recruiting candidates, establishing subject organizing and the flexibility to haul in tens of millions in marketing campaign money.
The chair race, anticipated to be held February 1 on the DNC’s winter assembly in Nationwide Harbor, Maryland, will likely be one of many first proxy fights the place Democrats will be capable of wrestle with what occurred within the 2024 election, and brainstorm a path ahead as completely different factions jockey for his or her most popular candidate.
It has already been stocked with a few half dozen candidates, together with Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Get together chair Ken Martin; Wisconsin Democratic Get together Chair Ben Wikler; former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and New York state Sen. James Skoufis.
Martin, thought of an early front-runner by many after claiming endorsements from no less than 100 of the 448 DNC members who will decide the next chair through a majority vote, mentioned one of many massive classes he gathered this yr was how Republicans received messaging by diving into non-traditional media areas.
“We’ve acquired to do a greater job reaching voters who don’t watch TV information,” Martin mentioned in a Dec. 17 post on X. “We have to be taking our message in all places—from social media to podcasts to influencers and extra.”
No DNC post-mortem, however requires an audit
There are some Democrats who need a deep dive to diagnose what went incorrect for them in 2024, just like the post-mortem Republicans launched after falling quick within the 2012 presidential election received by Barack Obama.
Allied teams, reminiscent of Way to Win, a left-leaning technique tank and donor hub, have begun releasing preliminary exit polling and have promised an examination within the subsequent few weeks.
In a post-election memo, the agency’s leaders argue rising prices, coupled with a worldwide backlash towards incumbent politicians, motivated the voters whom Trump spoke to, versus an ideological realignment. It says the “unique sin of the cycle” was the Democratic Get together’s failure to inform a “vivid, sturdy story about why issues nonetheless felt so horrible,” although the economic system was enhancing.
That included offering voters with, “a transparent villain to carry accountable for his or her persevering with ache,” in accordance with the memo.
“Historical past has taught me that there will likely be leaders who will learn our evaluation and will disagree,” Method to Win founder Tory Gavito mentioned. “As an alternative of participating in wholesome debate to forge new alliances, they’ll break off and construct on their very own. This isn’t a time to permit factions to develop throughout the anti-MAGA coalition.”
Different Democrats need a probing audit of Harris’ 2024 marketing campaign spending after questions arose concerning the knowledge in doling out tens of millions for large-scale rallies that includes celebrities versus extra grassroots outreach efforts.
However generally events skip these kind of public examinations, which frequently flip into indignant finger pointing. The DNC did not do one after Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016, as an example, and the GOP did not do a assessment after Trump’s defeat in 2020.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a progressive lawmaker on Capitol Hill who served as an adviser to Harris, thinks a proper post-mortem could be a waste of time, and as a substitute suggests a soul-searching debate on how Democrats interact voters.
“Our occasion must be the occasion of free speech and a celebration that claims we would like we go in each discussion board and we welcome concepts and we’re not going to evaluate folks as a result of they could disagree with us, or they could say the incorrect phrase,” he mentioned.
Harris watch: governor of California or one other White Home run?
One space of curiosity for Democrats will likely be what Harris does subsequent after being handed the occasion’s nomination with roughly three months left within the 2024 presidential race.
The 60-year-old vice chairman has stored a comparatively low profile since dropping to Trump in November. However in a quick tackle final Tuesday, she advised supporters “we should keep within the battle” and added “nobody can stroll away” from the pending fights.
Harris’ remarks may very well be a teaser for both making a 3rd run for the White Home or returning to California for a run at governor in 2026. It is an interesting spot for Harris contemplating incumbent Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited and her personal electoral successes in successful statewide twice as legal professional common in 2010 and 2014, and as soon as for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
Whereas working to be the chief government of the nation’s most populated state would make it tough for Harris to show round and run for president two years later, it could be just like the transfer of one other VP who fell quick in a White Home bid: Richard Nixon. After dropping the razor-thin 1960 presidential race to John F. Kennedy, Nixon circled to run for governor of the Golden State. He misplaced that 1962 election earlier than successful the 1968 presidential race.
Whichever means she goes, Harris’ determination will likely be one of many first consequential strikes for each her and her occasion’s future.
“She couldn’t see it as merely a comfort prize after losing the presidential election to Donald Trump,” Los Angeles Instances political columnist George Skelton wrote earlier this week. “Nor may she view it as a stepping stone again to the White Home. California voters would sense these emotions and maybe not elect her.”
Resistance or play ball: How Dems reply to Trump 2.0
Simply how will Democrats reply to Trump’s return?
The pure intuition by some, particularly progressive Home Democrats and big city mayors, will likely be to withstand the previous and future president’s incoming administration in any respect prices, particularly by way of its mass deportation plan geared toward undocumented immigrants.
Home Democrats caught collectively final week on Capitol Hill to reject a Trump-endorsed invoice to fund the federal government via the primary couple of months of the Republican’s administration after he tried to incorporate a last-minute provision to lift the quantity that the federal government can borrow till after the 2026 mid-term elections. The ultimate spending deal that handed Congress did not embody the language Trump needed. Many within the occasion have already signaled their opposition to the president-elect’s return to the White Home by refusing to attend his upcoming inauguration.
However different Democrats, reminiscent of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., have additionally advised a willingness to chop offers with Trump, beginning with a few of his coverage priorities. The previous Democratic 2020 presidential candidate mentioned if Elon Musk, who’s co-chairing the brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity, needs to chop wasteful Pentagon spending, “rely me in.”
Generational battle looms as Democrats gear up for 2026 and past
Biden’s age dominated much of the past cycle, with many Democrats feeling an octogenarian incumbent wasn’t the best choice to energise youthful voters and lead the nation into an unsure future.
Democrats have a deep bench of Gen-X and millennials of their ranks for future elections who’re itching to grab the baton from older management.
One of many first post-election battles that noticed this situation play out occurred this week within the Home, the place 35-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., challenged 74-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-V.A., to be the rating Democrat on the highly effective Oversight Committee.
However Home Democrats rejected her bid, which acquired criticism from younger progressives on-line who underscored the way it repeats the underlying age situation from 2024.
“Tried my greatest,” Oscasio-Cortez mentioned on the social media website Bluesky. “Sorry I couldn’t pull it via everybody — we dwell to battle one other day.”
Regardless of that setback, a generational shift is probably on the horizon for Democrats within the coming years, with aggressive Senate and governor’s races looming in swing states reminiscent of Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan that might give youthful leaders a gap.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, 42, not too long ago advised USA TODAY he is “able to catch (his) breath.” However the former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate is already being talked about as a candidate for Michigan governor. In Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore, 46, has sparked an early frenzy with observers, reminiscent of sports activities author Jemele Hill saying earlier this yr, “if there have been Vegas odds on a future president, I would put it on him. He is acquired the products.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, 47, was chosen to steer the occasion’s governors as their chief fundraiser and recruiter within the 2026 contests. Others atop the checklist of Democrats who’re in search of a brand new chief embody outgoing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, 53, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, 51, who was omitted within the Harris 2024 veepstakes and Newsom, 57, who’s repeatedly talked about because the nationwide Democratic inheritor obvious.
The Democrats’ seek for new blood comes as Republicans additionally seem poised handy off their reins to a youthful technology after Trump completes his second time period in January 2029. Vice President-elect JD Vance is 40, whereas Donald Trump, Jr., touted by his dad as a potential successor, is 46.
“Hopefully we will rewrite each script and never go together with previous scripts,” mentioned Brazille, the previous DNC chair. “However that is when you’ve got creativeness, and never simply taking a look at what occurred yesterday.”
( headline and story edited by our employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
