This is such a well written analysis 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I always admire the way you get to the root of the problem whether it's about pop culture drama or politics. Always grateful to have you in my virtual space.
Thank you for this!! As someone who was frustrated and puzzled by her platform (or lack thereof) from the beginning, it's disappointing to see that a lot of people are unwilling to see that the Democratic party is not, in fact, perfect - and at the moment is barely more left leaning than the Republicans 🫠
ALL OF THIS. I was texting multiple group chats about this last night. Racism and sexism cannot be the only determinants for why Kamala lost the election when Democrats lost voter share LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. If you go to the AP's election results page and click the results for any given state, there's a graph down at the bottom that shows how much ground parties gained/lost each county or county equivalent. Democrats' voter share eroded in all of their major strongholds.
LA County was approx. D+45 in 2020 and this year it was D+30. Cook County, IL went from D+50 to D+39. DeKalb County, GA (2nd bluest county in the state), Baltimore, MD (city AND county), Prince George's County, MD, Philadelphia, PA, the entire state of Massachusetts and the Bronx ALL PERFORMED WORSE FOR DEMS NOW THAN 4 YEARS AGO. There was not some sudden influx of Republicans moving to Decatur, GA or College Park, MD or Boston. Democrats shat the bed in a major way and now it's time to clean it up.
Ive been thinking how this does not feel quite 2016 nor 2020 - the 2012 Mitt Romney comparison is spot on! So much that I had forgotten about him until this moment.
This is… exactly what I’ve been thinking. The Democratic Party is playing the blame game but they’re their own villains. If they don’t get it together, tighten their messaging and lean into their progressive leaders, they will not be winning elections in the foreseeable future which would be a disaster, because MAGA is incredibly problematic.
I agree with the 2012 comparison too. I listened to a podcast with Trevor Noah and Tressie McMillan Cottom, watched her on the Daily Show and read her piece about identity politics- the election of a candidate is based on how the voters define themselves and I don’t believe the Democratic Party had the policies to get the most constituents- by being more centrist, they became too uninspiring and too tough to align with in the process. I hate Trump but I also believe the working class felt abandoned as Bernie Sanders said. And Gaza is a HUGE issue for many voters, and even in my liberal circles it was still very hard for us to overcome to vote for Harris. I appreciate your clarity here Clara.
This was the nuanced, kind, and honestly inspiring take I needed to wake up to this morning. Because there is action that can be taken, and there is still so much hope, community, and power within *people*
I agree with much of your analysis, but would like to respectfully disagree that sexism isn't a significant part of the root cause issue and shouldn't be dismissed as easily.
"The Democratic Party continues to hold onto the Narnian belief that centrism will win elections, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Because people want progressive policies. And these policies don’t have to come from the mouths of white men to be successful at the polls."
I disagree - there's a difference between female candidates touting liberal policies that have been successful at the state level v. those who have failed at the national one. I now believe quite seriously (as a Democrat) that the eventual first female president will be a Republican. There is a clear divide between the policies people support and the person that they want delivering the message, and with the mandate to lead the proverbial "free world". Liberally leaning women are threatening in that they call into question the values that many people (men and women) were raised on as incorrect, or generously, outdated. Conservative female candidates don't have this challenge since they rely on conservatively-cozy themes like family values, but look - even they don't win on the national stage. They never even make it out of a Republican primary.
So to say that all we have to do is find the right messaging, and perhaps a fulsome democratic process... sure? Duh? (And I do say that respectfully!) But I also think that it's a disservice not to acknowledge that liberal women will likely not overcome deeply entrenched bias, at least not until a Republican has done it first.
Yes, yes, yes. I want to send this to everyone I know in the party. Everyone holding the line that she ran a flawless campaign is cuckoo banananas to me. It’s unreal how out of touch they are.
I love your writing and I always find your analysis helpful. Regardless of what the democrats did or didn't do (and I can't disagree with most of your points,) I still find it unfathomable that people would rather vote for someone as abhorrent as Trump.
This was such a good read but it's also so tough because, while I agree with your analysis, I was still hoping against hope that we wouldn't be plunged into another 4 years of MAGA unabashedly attacking civil rights across the board.
Thank you for this. It summarizes everything that the DNC doesn't want to hear, probably won't listen to, and will be the downfall of any future Democratic candidate.
This is such a well written analysis 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I always admire the way you get to the root of the problem whether it's about pop culture drama or politics. Always grateful to have you in my virtual space.
Thank you so much for reading, Mia!
This sums it up so well, thank you!
Thank you for this!! As someone who was frustrated and puzzled by her platform (or lack thereof) from the beginning, it's disappointing to see that a lot of people are unwilling to see that the Democratic party is not, in fact, perfect - and at the moment is barely more left leaning than the Republicans 🫠
ALL OF THIS. I was texting multiple group chats about this last night. Racism and sexism cannot be the only determinants for why Kamala lost the election when Democrats lost voter share LITERALLY EVERYWHERE. If you go to the AP's election results page and click the results for any given state, there's a graph down at the bottom that shows how much ground parties gained/lost each county or county equivalent. Democrats' voter share eroded in all of their major strongholds.
LA County was approx. D+45 in 2020 and this year it was D+30. Cook County, IL went from D+50 to D+39. DeKalb County, GA (2nd bluest county in the state), Baltimore, MD (city AND county), Prince George's County, MD, Philadelphia, PA, the entire state of Massachusetts and the Bronx ALL PERFORMED WORSE FOR DEMS NOW THAN 4 YEARS AGO. There was not some sudden influx of Republicans moving to Decatur, GA or College Park, MD or Boston. Democrats shat the bed in a major way and now it's time to clean it up.
Ive been thinking how this does not feel quite 2016 nor 2020 - the 2012 Mitt Romney comparison is spot on! So much that I had forgotten about him until this moment.
This is… exactly what I’ve been thinking. The Democratic Party is playing the blame game but they’re their own villains. If they don’t get it together, tighten their messaging and lean into their progressive leaders, they will not be winning elections in the foreseeable future which would be a disaster, because MAGA is incredibly problematic.
(If you’re interested, I wrote about this: https://open.substack.com/pub/natalieabruzon/p/kamala-harris-didnt-lose-democrats?r=fwzqm&utm_medium=ios)
I agree with the 2012 comparison too. I listened to a podcast with Trevor Noah and Tressie McMillan Cottom, watched her on the Daily Show and read her piece about identity politics- the election of a candidate is based on how the voters define themselves and I don’t believe the Democratic Party had the policies to get the most constituents- by being more centrist, they became too uninspiring and too tough to align with in the process. I hate Trump but I also believe the working class felt abandoned as Bernie Sanders said. And Gaza is a HUGE issue for many voters, and even in my liberal circles it was still very hard for us to overcome to vote for Harris. I appreciate your clarity here Clara.
This was the nuanced, kind, and honestly inspiring take I needed to wake up to this morning. Because there is action that can be taken, and there is still so much hope, community, and power within *people*
One of the best written summaries, thank you Clara
I needed to read this today! Helps with the nihilism a bit (hopefully the dems DO change their strategy)
agree with every word. also agree that we have to talk about this now because narratives get cemented so early.
I agree with much of your analysis, but would like to respectfully disagree that sexism isn't a significant part of the root cause issue and shouldn't be dismissed as easily.
"The Democratic Party continues to hold onto the Narnian belief that centrism will win elections, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary. Because people want progressive policies. And these policies don’t have to come from the mouths of white men to be successful at the polls."
I disagree - there's a difference between female candidates touting liberal policies that have been successful at the state level v. those who have failed at the national one. I now believe quite seriously (as a Democrat) that the eventual first female president will be a Republican. There is a clear divide between the policies people support and the person that they want delivering the message, and with the mandate to lead the proverbial "free world". Liberally leaning women are threatening in that they call into question the values that many people (men and women) were raised on as incorrect, or generously, outdated. Conservative female candidates don't have this challenge since they rely on conservatively-cozy themes like family values, but look - even they don't win on the national stage. They never even make it out of a Republican primary.
So to say that all we have to do is find the right messaging, and perhaps a fulsome democratic process... sure? Duh? (And I do say that respectfully!) But I also think that it's a disservice not to acknowledge that liberal women will likely not overcome deeply entrenched bias, at least not until a Republican has done it first.
Yes, yes, yes. I want to send this to everyone I know in the party. Everyone holding the line that she ran a flawless campaign is cuckoo banananas to me. It’s unreal how out of touch they are.
I love your writing and I always find your analysis helpful. Regardless of what the democrats did or didn't do (and I can't disagree with most of your points,) I still find it unfathomable that people would rather vote for someone as abhorrent as Trump.
This brought a lot of clarity to my feelings, thank you for this.
This was such a good read but it's also so tough because, while I agree with your analysis, I was still hoping against hope that we wouldn't be plunged into another 4 years of MAGA unabashedly attacking civil rights across the board.
Thank you for this. It summarizes everything that the DNC doesn't want to hear, probably won't listen to, and will be the downfall of any future Democratic candidate.