In Search of Bold Changes from the Democratic Party

We Need an Intervention

By Robbin Warner

Since the election there have been lots of calls, coming from pundits and elected officials alike, urging Democrats to change how they message and run campaigns.

Many, including Virginia Senator Mark Warner, claim we lost the election because of wokeism. But Bernie Sanders says, “Democrats lost the election because they ignored the justified anger of working-class America and became the defenders of a rigged economy and political system.”

Pointing fingers is cheap and easy, but it doesn’t address or solve problems. And lately it has become obvious that these calls for change are merely sound bites. The lack of any real change is deafening.

Insanity, an old saying says, is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. Hmmm. Sound familiar?

Democrats, we need an intervention.

Here are three suggestions on how to make real change and begin moving the Democratic party into today’s political reality.

1 - Do a Post-mortem

The excuses for why Democrats lost to the worst candidate in a century are as long as your arm.

— It was the right-wing propaganda machine. But this is no secret. Democratic strategists and grassroots volunteers have known about the steady diet of propaganda that Fox, right wing radio and right-wing influencers have been spewing for years.

— Losing the rural vote. We’ve known we have a rural problem yet struggling state parties don’t support Democratic candidates in rural districts so how do we expect that to change?

— And of course, we can’t talk about campaigns without talking about money. Harris Waltz raised $1.39 billion in just three months, but all anyone talks about is the $277 million Elon Musk gave to Trump.

Face it. Democrats lost the election not because Trump’s popularity grew exponentially, or because people didn’t know there was an election. We lost because 19 million Democrats didn’t get off the couch and vote. Why these millions didn’t vote should be the question everyone is asking, and a rigorous evaluation of every tactic and strategy used to get out that vote should follow.

The Harris Campaign had a giant ground game of canvassing, phone banking and texting in the battleground states, each flooded with all the volunteers they could handle. Rallies and zoom calls energized millions. The campaign reportedly spent more than $1.4 billion on political ads. Where is the analysis of each tactic and its effectiveness?

In short, where is the post-mortem? Where is the acknowledgement that maybe we should do things differently going forward? Where is the listening tour?

I recommend recruiting an out-of-the-box thinker to lead this endeavor. Two names that come to mind are David Pepper (former chair of the Ohio State Party and author of Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake Up Call from Behind the Lines) and Ben Wikler (chair of the Wisconsin state party and a candidate for DNC chair). Both are outspoken and unafraid to call things out. Both are tapped into grassroots groups that represent the diversity and on-the-ground muscle of the party. Both have demonstrated that they know how to get things done.

For an idea of what might emerge from a serious analysis of what went wrong and what needs to be done, read Micah Sifry’s article “3 Things Democrats Could Do That They Aren't (Yet).” On second thought, don’t just read it. Let’s make them happen.

2 - Remove the Stranglehold of Consultants

Whether you call it the consultocracy or the Political Industrial Complex, all who benefit from maintaining the current campaign playbook have a stranglehold on the Democratic party.

These are the people whose income is dependent on paid positions in the political/campaign process. They include campaign managers and fundraisers, pundits and spin doctors, marketers, creatives, and comms people. We are not questioning the necessity of these jobs. But those who hold those positions have an incentive to maintain a failed status quo that continues to cost us elections, volunteers, and the health of the party.

Where else can consultants be part of a losing team and not be held accountable? For some reason in politics, the same consultants giving the same tired advice are hired again and again, charging the same outrageous fees — win or lose.

It makes you wonder if the reason these tactics aren’t up for review is because they feed into a Political Industrial Complex employing consultants who make a living off campaign direct mail, TV commercials, etc.

And now the same people who helped us lose spectacularly are digging in, more loyal than ever to the same losing playbook.

3 - Bring in New People and Fresh Ideas

Democratic Party leaders need to bring in new people and fresh ideas. Everyone seems to agree in theory, but when it comes to making it happen, the response is swift pushback.

Even when there is opportunity for change, it is rebuked. When the chair of Virginia’s Democratic Party recently announced she was stepping down, party officials rejected an election to bring in new leaders and new ideas. Instead, backroom deals were made and a new party chair was all but anointed within two days. Makes one wonder why top Virginia party leaders are willing to sacrifice the growth of the state party to hold onto power when that power’s value is shrinking.

As the article “Stop the Texts” points out, fundraising appeals by the Democratic party in 2024 were so rampant and relentless they turned people off. It’s still too early to tell if any change will come with the new DNC chair Ken Martin. Already the texts are spewing again. No wonder donors are rebuffing fundraising appeals, as the New York Times points out: “Venting at Democrats and Fearing Trump, Liberal Donors Pull Back Cash.”

And last weekend, when thousands of Americans took to the streets on President’s Day, Ken Martin was not seen joining in. Martin released a five-page memo with an introduction and a litany of the new administration’s abuses, but the memo offered no plan of action. While many groups have refrained from criticism, Left of Center SuperPac issued a press release calling on Martin to issue a plan to reach neglected Democrats and rebuild the DNC “not from the inside out but from the outside in.”

Like the saying goes, if we keep just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, our ability to change anything will stay the same and we’ll continue to sink.