The dust has not yet settled from the 2024 election, but the Democratic Party’s blame game over their bleak showing has already begun in earnest.
Why it matters: Democrats across the ideological spectrum are quickly seizing on this raw moment to try to redefine the party in their image.
- “Instead of saying, ‘How can people vote for Donald Trump,’ we should be asking ‘Why do people vote for Donald Trump’… what did he do right and what did we do wrong,” Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) told Axios.
Zoom out: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released a scathing statement alleging the Democratic Party “abandoned” the working class, Axios’ Stephen Neukam reported.
- “Will the big-money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lesson from this disastrous campaign? … Probably not,” Sanders said.
- Several other progressive members of Congress, such as Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), offered similar critiques of the party’s approach.
- “There were a lot of mistakes,” Bowman told Axios.
The other side: Suozzi, a moderate, told Axios, “We have to stop pandering to the base and we have to start listening to the people … people are sick of extremism.”
- Suozzi predicted that he is “going to get beaten up” for his post-election takes.
- “The far-left is going to say it’s because Kamala Harris was a war hawk … they’ll try, but I think no one’s buying it,” said another House Democrat.
State of play: Democrats are feeling dejected and shellshocked by the decisive loss of the White House and Senate.
What’s next: Democrats are also starting to quibble over how the party should recalibrate its approach to Trump during his second go-around.
- One House Democrat said the party needs “pick and choose our battles” and get past “this idea they call ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’.”
- “Democrats just literally attacked everything he did. We could never agree with anything, never give him credit for anything, could never say, ‘Well actually securing the border is a good idea, I just disagree with how he’s doing it,'” the lawmaker said.
The bottom line: One senior House Democrat warned of the inevitable post-mortem, “It’ll be tough.”
https://www.axios.com/2024/11/07/democrats-blame-game-2024-election-harris