US Democrats look for a roadmap, new leader to take on Trump

NATIONAL HARBOR, United States - US Democrats choose a new flagbearer on Feb 1 who will be tasked with rebuilding a party still reeling from 2024’s crushing presidential defeat, and figuring out how best to oppose Republican Donald Trump.

Meeting in a large hotel near Washington, members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the party’s governing body, are carrying out a postmortem of their November loss and selecting a chairperson responsible for drawing up their new battle plan.

“This is not a game of chess where everyone is moving their pieces back and forth in a respectful, timed manner. This is guerilla warfare in political form,” said Ms Katherine Jeanes, deputy digital director of the North Carolina Democratic Party.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a rising Democratic star, warned the party must “not to go into hiding until the next general election.”

“We need to band together and show the country what we can achieve,” he said, at the party’s general session on Jan 31.

The moment calls for boldness, added Ms Shasti Conrad, chair of the party’s Washington state branch, warning that many Americans have lost the faith.

“They don’t trust us to be able to make things better. They don’t trust that when we are given power, that we know how to use it,” Ms Conrad said.

And the fight starts now, she added - there can be no waiting until the next presidential election, set for 2028.

“We have to be organising all year round,” said Ms Conrad, a candidate for one of the party’s deputies.

Among the favourites to lead the Democrats into the future are Mr Ben Wikler and Mr Ken Martin, party chairmen in Wisconsin and Minnesota, respectively, two neighbouring Midwestern states.

Mr Trump narrowly won Wisconsin over Democratic opponent, former vice-president Kamala Harris, in last November’s election.

Ms Harris defeated Mr Trump in Minnesota - but lost the majority of traditionally conservative states in the centre of the country.

‘Dog chasing the car’

Both DNC chair candidates are relatively unknown to the general public and both come from progressive backgrounds.

They emphasise the need to renew the link between the Democratic Party and working-class Americans, as well as the need to take the electoral fight to all 50 states - even those firmly in the conservative camp.

“If we’re going to be a national party, we need to compete everywhere,” said Mr Martin, 51.

His opponent, 43-year-old Mr Wikler, said: “The soul of the Democratic Party is the fight for working people.”

Mr Wikler has received endorsements from several powerful Democratic elders, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

Facing a Republican majority in Congress and a second term for Mr Trump, who has roared back into the White House with all the provocative rhetoric of his first administration, Democrats say they must pick their battles.

“We have to be able to decipher crazy rhetoric versus policy violence,” said Ms Conrad, and not be like a “dog chasing the car.”

All the more so in a sharply polarised political landscape.

“This Republican Party doesn’t care. It doesn’t care about the norms, doesn’t care about institutions,” Ms Conrad said.

‘Echo chamber’

While many are “exhausted” after the last election campaign, Ms Jeanes said the party must learn to respond to the frantic pace of shock moves from the Trump administration.

Much of Democratic success going forward will be in how the party presents itself to an American public weary of politics.

That includes going into new spheres, often far from the traditional media - which will mean being “in places that have sometimes been uncomfortable” for Democrats, according to Ms Conrad.

In 2024, Ms Jeanes said, Democrats “didn’t realise until it was too late that we were in an echo chamber of our own making.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party was “hemorrhaging” young male voters who were being “fed part and parcel through the alt-right pipeline” to the Republican Party, according to Ms Jeanes.

After his victory in November, Mr Trump credited a series of interviews on largely right-wing podcasts, including the popular “Joe Rogan Experience,” for aiding his return to the White House.

“We need to be getting on sports podcasts and video games and trying to make sure that we’re reaching into apolitical spaces,” Ms Jeanes said. AFP