As the full extent of Tuesday’s disaster sinks in — losing the White House and Senate while failing to gain a House majority despite a great opportunity to do so — Democrats are wrestling with a major ideological problem: how to win back blue-collar voters.
Inside the party, Democrats are bashing each other over losing non-college-educated voters and those from families making $100,000 or less. Exit polls show President-elect Donald Trump winning that group, as well as non-college graduates. Trump’s ability to woo these voters helped him win the popular vote while sweeping the seven key battleground states. Trump’s strong showing pulled both House and Senate Republicans to victory.
In an interview, Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) — who left the Democratic Party earlier this year — noted that he was scolded by President Joe Biden and other Democrats going back to 2021 over his concerns on inflation, the rising cost of living and the economic fears of the middle class. Trump, he noted, promised to take on those issues directly.
“When I first [warned] about inflation, they all said I was crazy. ‘No, it’s transitory,’” Manchin told us. “I think the president even said ‘I got [17] Nobel laureates’’’ backing the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better package, which Manchin ultimately helped kill over his fear of the inflationary impact. Manchin was later able to help pass the $700 billion Inflation Reduction Act, but he clashed with the White House on the implementation of that measure.
“Basically what Trump said, his message, was able to hit home, it made them more comfortable voting for him over [Harris],” Manchin added of independent voters, who he noted make up most of the electorate. “In West Virginia, they don’t feel comfortable voting for Washington Democrats.”
From the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had an even stronger take:
There’s a general feeling among Democrats that they overestimated the importance of abortion and underestimated the economy, inflation and border security. Yet even some populist Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who long championed blue-collar issues, still came up short Tuesday.
Amid the soul-searching, Democrats have already started kicking around ideas to better appeal to working-class voters. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) confirmed there’s talk of revving the Blue Collar Caucus, as we first reported in Wednesday’s midday edition, to “address our party’s clear and consistent underperformance with working-class voters.”
Culture wars: Democrats also privately concede they let Republicans set the narrative on transgender athletes, which became a symbol of Democratic “radicalism.” Republicans spent a significant amount of money on anti-transgender ads in the final stretch, and few Democrats responded.
Texas Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Colin Allred was one of the lone Democrats who cut an ad clarifying he doesn’t support boys playing in girls’ sports. But he received some backlash inside the party over the move, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Some Democrats think their party was too dismissive of the potential impact of the GOP attacks. More broadly, they worry Democrats have become too wary of upsetting outside groups and activists.
“They fooled themselves. They have convinced themselves that voters don’t care about this issue,” one centrist House Democrat told us. “It’s just another example, in my opinion, of Democrats not having a spine and letting groups dictate to us, because we want to keep these organizations happy.”
Progressives push back that Harris tacked to the center on a number of issues, including immigration, and argue going any further to the right would compromise their core values as a party.
Expect a lot more bloodletting as Democrats digest
