Shell-shocked Democrats are considering dropping labels like “progressive” or even ditching the party altogether after being blasted by Donald Trump in November.
After a left-wing campaign by Vice President Kamala Harris produced lackluster results, some Democrats believe they must abandon polarizing positions and run as independents as the party moves away from working-class values.
“The Democratic brand is in the toilet,” Lis Smith, former senior adviser to Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign, told the New York Times.
“Many of the Democrats who have weathered this cycle — our top overachievers in the House races, for example — are people who have resisted the Democratic Party brand,” she continued.
“Trump has knocked down the blue wall in the industrial Midwest, but he has also expanded his voice most in our bluest and most urban areas.”
The big names of the past are either too old – Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders – or too limited in terminology, like Barack Obama.
Several candidates are vying for leadership of the party as DNC chairman, but others, like John Fetterman, believe the left is out of step with the country and refuse to join the wing.
‘I was progressive, but the situation has changed and I have said very clearly that I have not left that label. That label has left me,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said in June.
Democrats believe dropping labels like “progressive” and even walking away from the party altogether could be their way out of the wilderness after a drubbing from Donald Trump in November
After losing Kamala Harris and past party stars like Joe Biden, Barack Obama, the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders, all of whom are term-limited or likely considered too old, the country is facing a lack of power and a crisis of confidence.
Changing party dynamics have left normally Democratic politicians wondering whether running as an independent or third-party candidate will help them make inroads into Republican strongholds.
Many are inspired by Dan Osborn, who ran as an independent in Nebraska against Republican Deb Fischer.
Osborn — who said he would not work with the Dems but would take money from partisan groups — lost his race but defeated Harris by a whopping 14 points.
The former mechanic and labor leader spoke out in favor of Donald Trump’s border wall, but also in favor of labor and economic populist policies that were once Democrats’ bread and butter.
However, he maintained his independence and says he hopes there will be more people like him in the future.
“That’s really what the country needs.” he saidnoting that he has not ruled out another Senate run in 2026.
A Democrat strategist who spoke anonymously told Politico that winning in the future “doesn’t necessarily mean electing Democrats.” But it means we have to change what the denominator is that we need to get to a majority.”
One possible area where a third party could make inroads is the race for Florida governor, which will see Ron DeSantis become term-limited in 2026.
‘The Democratic brand is in the toilet,’ says Lis Smith, former senior adviser to Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign
Billionaire lawyer John Morgan says he wants to work to counter Republican rule in Florida, but with a new, so-called “capitalist party” that he says would avoid bad democratic ideas
John Fetterman sees the liberal left taking positions out of step with the country and refusing to align with so-called progressives
Billionaire lawyer John Morgan says he wants to work to counter Republican rule in Florida, but with a new, so-called “capitalist party” that he says would avoid bad Democratic ideas.
“I don’t know if Trump is a stable genius, but he is a damn genius,” Morgan said, adding that while he was a 2024 donor to Joe Biden, he left Democrats to far-left views and the like. Bernie Sanders who called themselves ‘Democratic Socialists’.
Morgan — who said Kamala Harris is “forever” disqualified from running for office after her loss — is anti-monopoly, pro-legalization of marijuana, in favor of legalizing prostitution, but would also include transgender athletes in the ban youth sports.
“I think I know what people want and I think what people want is what I want,” Morgan said Politics.
Another party leader is Mike Duggan, the Democratic mayor of Detroit. Duggan decided to run as an independent candidate to replace Gretchen Whitmer as governor of Michigan.
‘I came to the conclusion that if you call yourself a Democrat, all Republicans automatically line up against it. If you call yourself a Republican, all Democrats are automatically against it,” Duggan said.
“And I really don’t think there’s a path forward for this state if you don’t get reasonable people from both parties to work together.”
Duggan has been praised by independent former Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who called him “smart.”
Democrat Mike Duggan, mayor of Detroit, is running to replace Gretchen Whitmer as governor of Michigan
Duggan has been praised by independent former Democrat Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who called him “smart” for running from Democrats.
Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, is skeptical, however. She believes he simply doesn’t want to participate in a primary.
“I think it’s about a mayor who has looked at the field and looked at the prospects for the future and made the calculation that his best path to victory is not to participate in the Democratic primaries,” she said.
Democrats will caucus in 2027, as they have in the past, with two very different independents: Bernie Sanders and Angus King of Maine.
Sanders himself suggested in an email to his supporters that the future involves “supporting independent candidates who are willing to take on both parties.”
King, who is considered much more moderate than Sanders, thinks independents’ day is coming, but it will be a challenge.
‘Operating as an independent person is a difficult job, because you don’t have a party apparatus. I think there may come a time when more people will start working as independents. But at the moment the structure is not suitable for that.’
It comes after Republicans not only won the White House, including the Republican president-elect, winning the popular vote for the first time, but Republicans managed to flip the Senate and gain a slim majority in the House of Representatives in January will have.
Democrats will be on the defensive as they face a Republican Party trifecta with only limited options to stop Republicans from enacting their agenda in the new year.
At the same time, Democrats have the momentous task of figuring out why voters across the country have turned away from the party while Trump made small gains not just in battleground states and red areas, but across the country.
Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be on the defensive as they face a Republican Party trifecta with only limited options to stop Republicans from enacting their agenda in the new year.
Many are inspired by Dan Osborn, who ran as an independent in Nebraska against Republican Deb Fischer
If Democrats have any hope of regaining a majority in Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats must also determine their best messaging approach.
It is an example of how political insiders told DailyMail.com that Democratic factions are engaged in a ‘knife fight’ for control of the party following its election defeat.
The battle lines are now being drawn between liberals on the West Coast, Bernie Sanders socialists and moderate technocrats in the Midwest, who insist the party has completely lost touch with the average American voter.
But first, there is one thing that all parties seem to agree on: the current political establishment must be driven out of national politics for good.