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| By Brakkton Booker and Jesse Naranjo | What up, Recast fam! Today’s agenda:
- Democrats and DNC officials tell us where the party goes from here
- What some of Donald Trump’s picks have said about Israel-Palestine
- The push to ban trans women from using women’s bathrooms on Capitol Hill
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The race is on to pick a successor to DNC Chair Jaime Harrison. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP | Democrats are gradually recovering from their electoral shellacking at the ballot box two weeks ago — one that left them without control of a single branch of government in Washington.
That stark reality has shifted their focus to rebranding and rebuilding — a process that won’t get underway in earnest until members of the Democratic National Committee select a new leader. Two men have already thrown their hat into the ring to replace outgoing Chair Jaime Harrison: former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and Ken Martin, head of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. But several DNC members and former delegates from this summer’s convention tell The Recast there’s very little consensus on whether those men — or the nearly dozen other names being floated — would be the best champion for Democrats moving forward. What is clear is that the DNC needs someone who is a prolific fundraiser and a gifted communicator who can chart the party’s comeback for the 2026 midterms, following a two-year period that puts right-wing populist power center stage. “This person is going to have to be a wartime general,” said Maria Cardona, a longtime Democratic operative and member of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee. The incoming chair, she said, has to fight on several battlefronts, from combating Donald Trump’s campaign promises to overhaul or dismantle pillars of the federal government, roll back environmental protections and use the military to carry out mass deportations — to overcoming the Democratic Party’s own divisions between the progressive and establishment wings. “If we splinter, then it's not just going to be another four years of Donald Trump. It's going to be four years of Donald Trump and then eight years of JD Vance, and God help us all,” Cardona said.
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Others say it’s about the economy, stupid.
“We have to be very clear in how we counter with our message and our policy around the economy and around the practical benefits of democracy,” former DNC Vice Chair Michael Blake said in an interview with our colleague Jeff Coltin. Blake, who is also mulling a run for the DNC’s top job, said that economic conversation is crucial and “has been missing” in the party's future plans to woo back Black men. While exit polls showed Kamala Harris won some 75 percent of Black men, Trump more than doubled his standing with this bloc from four years ago. “For the demographic that once again was the second-highest voting demographic for a Democrat … the notion that we would not be at the table in a serious way is something we cannot allow,” Blake said. |
 A young girl stands outside Kamala Harris' election night watch party at Howard University, Nov. 5, in Washington. | Terrance Williams/AP |
Some Democrats suggested the party leaned too heavily into identity politics and would be better served focusing on why broad stretches of America believe Democrats are out of touch. “I think that there were a lot of factors that we were kind of blind to because of the excitement of the possibility of, like a new generation of leadership,” Josefine Jaynes, a Wisconsin delegate at this summer’s convention, told The Recast. “Our party has kind of become the party of the elites. … We just are not able to message in the way that the Republicans are.” Several House Democrats who won tight races in agriculture-heavy districts — from Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico to Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota — told our colleague Grace Yarrow that the party needs to better show up for rural voters. And Michelle Brandt, who was a South Carolina delegate to the convention, said winning key down-ballot races in red states is the best way to rebuild trust. She’s running in a special election for a state House seat in mid-January herself. Without the right local infrastructure, Brandt told The Recast, the Democratic Party will lose out on having trusted messengers where its brand is the weakest.
“There were several states that suffered really big losses at the state level and the county level and school board level,” she said. “Fundraising is really a challenge, and especially with morale being low — that's another thing that we've got to fight against.” All the best,
The Recast Team | | |
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WHAT TRUMP’S SIGNALING ON ISRAEL-PALESTINE
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Israeli soldiers walk in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood in December. | APMoti Milrod/Haaretz via AP | Trump’s foreign policy picks so far signal a continued, uncompromising support for Israel and its war in Gaza, our Jesse Naranjo writes. Many of them have also expressed support for Israel’s simmering, occasionally kinetic conflict with Iran. Marco Rubio: Nominee for secretary of State A foreign policy hawk, Rubio is a staunch supporter of Israel. He has accused pro-Palestinian activists on college campuses of antisemitism. He’s intimated that foreign students should have their visas revoked for “calling for intifada and attacking Jews … or at least threatening to attack them” and said the Biden administration didn’t do that only because Democrats "want their votes.” Elise Stefanik: Nominee for U.N. ambassador Stefanik has been a steadfast Israel backer, going so far as to call for defunding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA. Israel and its allies have accused the U.N. agency of Hamas infiltration. “Just as President Trump did, and I have consistently advocated for, we must permanently cut off funding to UNRWA which instills antisemitic hate in Palestinians, houses weapons for terrorists, and steals the aid they are supposed to be distributing,” she said in a statement this month. Pete Hegseth: Nominee for Defense secretary The Fox News host has regularly professed his support for Israel and its actions in Gaza. “I understand how geopolitically we are linked and how critical it is that we stand by such a strong ally,” he said in a 2016 interview. Hegseth is also a known hawk on Iran policy, a position shared by Israel, one of its key geopolitical foes. Mike Huckabee: Nominee for ambassador to Israel The former Arkansas governor’s career has been marked by a strong support for Israel. In a 2015 clip unearthed by CNN, Huckabee said “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian,” calling Palestinians’ cause “a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.” Michael Waltz: Nominee for national security adviser Another Iran hawk, Waltz has been outspoken in his support for Israel and has criticized the Biden administration for what he called attempts to get a “one-sided” cease-fire deal to the detriment of Israel. He has stated he believes Israel should not be prevented from targeting Iran’s nuclear and energy infrastructure. | | | | Policy change is coming—be the pro who saw it first. Access POLITICO Pro’s Issue Analysis series on what the transition means for agriculture, defense, health care, tech, and more. Strengthen your strategy. | | | | | | | |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
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 Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) walks down the steps of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building. | Angelina Katsanis/POLITICO |
BATHROOM BRAWL: Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) says her pending resolution to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms at the Capitol is legit. Incoming Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride — who will be the first openly trans member of Congress — called it a play by “far right-wing extremists.” POLITICO’s Nicholas Wu and Mia McCarthy report on the latest saga roiling D.C. And more:
| | | TODAY’S CULTURE RECS INFLUENCERS HAVE REAL IMPACT: One in 5 Americans get their news from social media influencers, according to a new Pew Research Study. SPEAKING OF INFLUENCE … The “Trump Dance” is being embraced by athletes and incorporated into celebratory dances in the world of pro sports. WHERE WILL THE MAGA CROWD GO? The Trump hotel is gone, but the Washingtonian has some early D.C. favorites for where folks in the president-elect’s orbit will hang. AND THIS IS YOUR SIGN ... to go see “Wicked.”
Edited by Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
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