On Nov. 6, independent Senator Bernie Sanders was re-elected to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, and along with it, issued a scathing message to the Democratic Party on the topic of Donald Trump’s return to power, writing that "It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them."
It is reasonable to argue that the Democratic Party is now the party of the so-called urban elites, just simply looking at voting maps by county. But swaths of the Latino coalition have been ceded to Trump, the working class no longer backs Democrats, and Harris underperformed in nearly every single county that mattered (hint: that’s not called underperforming, that’s called losing), and while I hate to give the extremist MAGA movement the satisfaction, it is increasingly clear that the Democratic Party is out of touch.
According to Shawn Hubler of the New York Times, “abstract truths mattered less, voters said, than tangible issues, like the ability to pay rent or concerns over border crossings. In a time of widespread distrust in institutions, Ms. Harris’s call to protect the nation’s norms rang hollow for many Americans.”
In short, as real as protecting democracy and fighting fascism is, it fell flat. An unpopular vice president was unable to build a case for change with the baggage of an unpopular administration, and the call to arms to fight for democracy appeared high-minded and overly idealistic or even fluffy to voters, confining Harris’s appeal to well-off, well educated groups and skipping over the tens of millions of Americans who don’t have space of mind to stress about fascism because they’re stressing about putting food on the table, taking care of their sick mother, and putting their kids through school.
Returning to Sanders’ statement, Trump and the Republican base, for a brief moment, ignoring their terrible and dehumanizing messaging, tapped into a real anger that exists within the American people, an anger and a desire to see the fall of the establishment.
“I am not better off than I was 4 years ago” is the common sentiment for voters leaning towards Trump, fantasy nostalgia of no wars and a good economy, even as everything came crashing down in the second half of his term, and the convenient memory omission of the pure inefficiency, wild unpredictability, and at times, incompetence of the administration as a whole. This can be seen in all the interviews with undecided voters published by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
While Harris focused on relating with voters through TikTok content and securing endorsements from big-name celebrities, they could not shake the baggage of the current deeply unpopular administration. America wanted change, and Harris did not give it to them. Like James Carville says, change has the advantage.
In the aftermath of the Harris-Trump debate, I wrote this: “I know we need to defeat Donald Trump, and if we do that through watered-down moderate policies, that is something I’m okay with, because a Harris win will improve the standing of this country. But at the same time, it feels like we are always postponing real change.”
And now, it is clear that not only has America postponed real change, it is on a path backwards. The progressive push that kicked off with the Obama administration and pushed through the social justice campaigns of Black Lives Matter have been effectively radicalized, demonized, and positioned as anti-American. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg talks about “reclaiming language” from the conservative branch of our nation, and he is correct: MAGA Republicans have capitalized on the American ideals of freedom and family, and redefined them in their own image. Progressivism in America has been largely trashed by remarkable smear campaigns across the aisle.
But it is not progressivism that is failing America. Looking at the votes, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez outperformed Harris even in New York. It could also just be that Harris was bogged down by the unpopular administration and was unable to effectively convey her message properly: Harris leaning consistently moderate as Trump, Project 2025, and company yanked right didn’t sway moderate voters like polls showed, rather it just normalized extremist policies. Additionally, the immovability of Democrats in far-left policies rather than getting back to the bread and butter of feeding and clothing every American didn’t ring across the country; that is to say, the Democrats moved too radically on policies that weren’t fundamental to most Americans and this allowed the Republicans to scapegoat them. Perception is everything.
Yes, Harris didn't have enough time to mount a truly successful campaign. Then again, one look at the overwhelming red wave across the nation (county by county) highlights the failure of the Democratic Party to truly understand the average American's concern.
We must return to the basics: there is majority support in the American population for public universal healthcare coverage, a majority of Americans support the continued existence and bolstering of gun laws, a majority of Americans support free education. As Tim Walz put it best earlier in the campaign (when they had arguably a lot more momentum), feeding kids and taking care of your mother are not radical ideas. Sanders echoes this.
What Sanders writes about is not just about Harris/Walz, it’s a lack of sufficient, digestible liberal populism with wide enough appeal to capture a decent segment of the American electorate. In an era of antiestablishment sentiment and dissatisfaction with the status quo, there needs to be a Democratic candidate that embodies populism in the middle class at a time when Democrats are continuously ceding the working class vote to Republicans. It’s not about leaning more right, campaigning heavily with Cheneys and conservative icons, or talking up gun ownership like Harris did, it’s about nailing messaging on the fundamental issues that affect everybody, that turn the average citizen into a warrior and champion rather than talking down to them about the death of democracy.
Hindsight, of course, is 20/20. The midterms in 2026 and the presidential election in 2028 will be a test to see whether Democrats understand the current political climate and are able to put together a populist coalition to meet the Republicans on their level, or whether the Democratic Party is an out-of-touch elite machine that will continue crumbling into the ground.
