WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic Party faces existential questions after Donald Trump’s resounding victory. One of the first: Who will lead it?
Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison is not expected to seek a second term, opening a job that must be filled by March 1, according to the party’s bylaws. Who takes the position will speak volumes about how the party wants to present itself going forward and what issues members believe hampered Democrats against Trump in 2024.
The incoming chair will also oversee the party’s 2028 nominating process, a complex and contentious exercise that will make that person central to the next presidential election. Harrison was derided for having backed President Joe Biden even as many Democratic voters questioned whether the president should run again. He was accused after Biden’s disastrous debate performance of pushing for a virtual roll call before Biden chose to withdraw.
The early debate over Harrison’s replacement appears to be set on a clear dividing line: Do Democrats need an operative with clear skills and experience in reshaping the party’s infrastructure? Or does the party need a communicator who can respond to everything the Trump administration plans to do and can sell Democratic ideas to a public that rejected them at the ballot box?
“They have to find someone from outside Washington who understands politics at the grassroots level,” said Howard Dean, a former chair who took the position after George W. Bush won a second term as president. Dean said he has received calls from members urging him to run, but he has no plans to do so. “The DNC is often a creature of Washington, which is a major problem. … You have to have a DNC that is big enough to include the whole country.”
Top Democrats are scheduled to meet privately in Scottsdale, Arizona, in mid-December. Already, there is speculation among attendees that serious candidates would attend the meeting or at least be announced by then.