What the Democratic leadership fight is really about
“I think it is fight versus flight.” Then, at a press conference with Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, she called for a “ new generation of leadership.” She wants a leader who will govern for the whole caucus — blue, purple, and red states — and has asked for a full plan on the new majority’s priorities.
Key points
- While “moderate” and “progressive” Democrats fight over which candidates performed better in last week’s midterms, and project those fights onto the congressional leadership debate, I’d say the bigger gap is between an anti-establishment electorate and a Washington blob stuck in the old ways of doing business.
- Elissa Slotkin of Michigan now calling for a change in leadership.
- One big idea This Tuesday, just a week after voters delivered Democrats resounding midterm victories across the country behind a message of accountability and anti-corruption, Washington’s aversion to listening to voters reared its ugly head.
And here’s what said on this point back in March: “Leader Schumer, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, they’re both from the same borough,” Colom told Semafor, arguing the party needs leadership that understands rural America.
Additional details
- Eleven House Democrats missed a vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, dooming the effort to fail and inflaming the calls for congressional Democrats to embrace new leaders, beyond Hakeem Jeffries in the House and Chuck Schumer in the Senate.
- The charge for Democrats going forward wasn’t only about issues like anti-war, AI regulation, and lowering the cost of living, it was also to more robustly use the levers of power to frontally oppose this administration.
- One of Schumer’s biggest points of tension with Democrats was his refusal to shut down the government early in Trump’s term to challenge DOGE, and, later on, his failure to keep moderates united behind a shutdown that appeared to be putting real pressure on the administration to change its policies.
- Washington works on access and relationships, first and foremost, and the uncomfortable reality is that, by the very nature of so many fresh faces, the anti-establishment wing of Democrats is at a deficit of options.
- | Win McNamee/Getty Images Welcome to The Midterms, Actually, where every week I write about two things: one big idea or trend I see and one thing I’m hearing from a voice on the ground.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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