Republicans are listening to their voters. The Democratic Party is not like that.
If they were, they wouldn't send agents from faraway countries to promote their campaigns, or try to buy influence by paying musicians and creators to encourage people to vote.
Some argue that celebrities play a role in politics, and I would agree if they help convert voters into volunteers and donors. But we were LeBron James and Beyoncé's team, and we still lost.
I visited Michigan before Tuesday's election, and for the first time this season, I sensed subtle signs that Democrats might not win the White House. Thanks to the efforts of Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign organizers, the first event drew a local crowd.
The problem is, people didn't come to see Harris' sister Maya or Maryland Governor Wes Moore speak at the Pontiac. They came to pick up the organizers. She did not need a representative of the people to defend her candidate. All she needed was chili peppers, people in her community, and a DJ playing hits from the 2010s.
Two days later in Flint, I watched my colleagues work with local organizers to organize another event, a get-out-the-vote concert. I was amazed as she navigated the cultural landscape, negotiating performance fees with local talent and drawing a crowd of about 100 people, all while navigating the cultural landscape. Then the host grabbed the microphone.
“I came here to get coins,” he shouted, “but you need to vote!”
I knew right away that I would lose.
President-elect Donald Trump won the election because he is a cult figure, a beacon for those who believe that self-preservation is tied to community and nation. The purpose of government is to provide services, but nearly 70 million voters now believe our democratic institutions are not up to the task.
President 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 changed America's paradigm from “the government won't abandon you” to “protect yourself.”
In their post-election analysis, experts will point to the 15 million people who did not vote for Harris. They will point to those who have remained loyal to President Joe Biden and a wave of Latino and Black voters away from the Democratic Party. Democrats will likely avoid this issue as Harris doesn't have enough time between the convention and Election Day. Republicans will argue that there is a disconnect between Democrats and their policies, and that the country is worsening under Democratic leadership.
But that's not the case. Harris lost 15 million votes because one party listened to voters and the other tried to steer them.
It's a harsh reality, but no amount of phone banking, email, solicitation, rallies, bus voting, etc. can sway voters who feel the system is stacked against them into thinking otherwise. . They do not see their relationship with the United States as an equal exchange of goods and services when the economic system regularly breaks down.
Harris is a genuine, kind, generous, fun and wonderful person. Her team's policy ideas, from building 3 million affordable housing units to tax breaks for Black business owners, were often conveyed in soundbites.
But her campaign failed, unable to connect these policies with voters who believed that self-preservation was something to be had, not something to be desired.
Ironically, by forcing Biden out of office, the elites steering the Democratic Party deprived voters of the decision to replace the incumbent president. That backfired. Self-preservation means taking control of your life instead of leaving it in the hands of others. Voters who valued the right to choose their own representatives did not like being told who to vote for.
Trump is an authoritarian, but our system appears to have fairly elected him twice, once as the Republican nominee and as our 47th president. Rationally or not, many voters blame Democrats for job losses, economic decline, and inflation.
I expect Democrats to scrutinize that message in the coming days and weeks and strategize a path forward for the candidates they voted against in 2025 and beyond.
Let's start by analyzing the vice president. Harris argued in her concession speech He claimed that Americans owed allegiance “to the Constitution, not to political parties or individuals,” but his message fell short. Voters in places like Flint and Pontiac are focused on surviving to thrive. The language of our founding documents is irrelevant to them.
And we need to study President-elect Trump objectively. Nearby. Understanding how to effectively communicate to lost voters and removing any pretense or urge to speak in lofty, abstract language.
Unlike Democrats, Trump resonates with voters who associate America with self-preservation. No matter how admirable they may be, the Democratic Party's national policies and candidates are by no means worthy of praise. I
Because the views of Trump supporters so clash with the ideals of the Democratic Party, it is easy to publicly label them as sexist, racist, or misinformed. An “un-Trump” approach means seeing them as Americans, neighbors, and friends, not enemies, and developing long-term messages and engagement strategies that speak to them.
Michael Ceraso is a Democratic strategist who has worked on four presidential campaigns, including those of President Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg. In 2017, she founded Winning Margins, a communications company focused on amplifying new voices in the media, and Community Groundwork, a nonprofit that supports second-year students interested in careers in civics.
