Republicans are listening to their voters. The Democratic Party does not.
If that were the case, we wouldn’t be trying to buy influence by sending state representatives from far and wide to promote our campaigns or paying musicians and creators to encourage voting.
Some people argue that celebrities play a role in politics, and I would agree if they help turn voters into volunteers and donors. But we still lost, even though it was LeBron James and Beyoncé’s party.
I traveled to Michigan before Tuesday’s election and for the first time this season, I noticed subtle signs that Democrats might not win the White House. The first event drew a local crowd thanks to the efforts of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign organizers.
The problem is this: People didn’t come out to see Harris’ sister, Mayana, or Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speak in Pontiac. They came looking for the organizer. She didn’t need a state representative to advocate for her candidacy. All she needed was some chili, some people in the community, and a DJ playing 2010’s hits.
Two days later in Flint, I saw a colleague organizing another event, working with local organizers to produce a get-out-the-vote concert. I was amazed to see that she negotiated performance fees with local artists and drew a crowd of about 100 people. All this while navigating the cultural landscape. Then the host grabbed the microphone.
“I came here for the coins. “But you have to vote!” he shouted.
I immediately knew we were going to lose.
President-elect Donald Trump is winning the election because he is a milestone and a cult figure for those who see self-preservation tied to their community or country. The purpose of government is to provide services, but nearly 70 million voters now believe that our democratic institutions are not doing their job.
Trump has shown the nation and the world that if you want that ‘coin’ you have to turn reality upside down to get it. He shifted the American paradigm from “The government won’t abandon you” to “Protect for yourself.”
Experts point out that post-election analysis shows as many as 15 million people did not support Harris. They will point to those who have remained loyal to President Joe Biden and the wave of Latino and Black voters leaving the Democratic Party. Democrats will overturn it because Harris is running out of time between the convention and Election Day. Republicans will argue that the disconnect between Democrats and their policies is causing the country to deteriorate under their leadership.
But no. Harris lost 15 million votes because one party listens to voters and the other tries to guide them.
It’s a harsh reality, but no amount of phone banking, texting, canvassing, rallies or buses to the polls can convince voters who feel the system is stacked against them to think differently. When our economic system routinely fails, they do not see their relationship with the United States as an equal exchange of goods and services.
Harris is genuine, kind, generous, funny and wonderful. Her team’s policy ideas, from building 3 million affordable homes to tax breaks for black business owners, were heard well.
But her campaign fell short by failing to connect these policies with voters who believed self-preservation was something to hold on to, not hope for.
Ironically, by ousting Biden, the elites leading the Democratic Party robbed voters of their decision to replace a sitting president. It backfired. Self-preservation is taking control of your own life, not deferring it to someone else. Voters who cherish their right to choose who represents them did not like being told who to vote for.
Trump is authoritarian, but our system appears to have fairly elected him as the Republican nominee twice and as our 47th President. Reasonable or not, many voters blame Democrats for job losses, recession, and inflation.
I expect Democrats to review their messaging in the coming days and weeks and strategize a path forward for down-ballot candidates in 2025 and beyond.
Let’s start by analyzing the VP. In her concession speech, Harris argued that Americans should be loyal “to the Constitution, not to any political party or individual,” but her message fell short. Voters in places like Flint and Pontiac are trying to survive. The language of the founding documents has nothing to do with them.
And we must study President-elect Trump objectively. closely. It’s about understanding how to communicate effectively with the voters we’ve lost, stripping away the pretense and impulse to speak in lofty, abstract terms.
Unlike Democrats, Trump sympathizes with voters who associate self-preservation with America. No matter how much I praise them, the Democratic Party’s national policies and candidates are not like that at all. me
It’s easy to broadly label Trump supporters as sexists, racists, and misinformed because their views clash so sharply with Democratic ideals. The “Not Trump” approach means seeing them as Americans, neighbors, and friends, not enemies, and creating long-term messaging and engagement strategies that reach them.
Michael Ceraso is a Democratic strategist who participated in four presidential campaigns, including President Barack Obama, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg. In 2017, he founded Winning Margins, a communications firm focused on amplifying new voices in the media, and Community Groundwork, a nonprofit supporting two-year students interested in civic careers.
