Democrats Are Picking a New Leader — Is Anyone Watching?

Frontrunners to lead the Democratic Party have been part of the problem

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DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and Pres. Joe Biden at the Democratic Party convention on Aug, 19, 2024. (Uncredited photo / Facebook.)

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Jaime Harrison will not seek another term as the man who runs the Democratic Party.

You may be thinking “No shit, Democratic Sherlock.” But Harrison reportedly made this decision before the party he leads had one of its worst days since 2004, the last time more Americans voted for a Republican president than a Democratic one.

Reuters reports that Harrison told people before the election that he’ll step down when his term ends on March 1, 2025. Harrison was widely blamed for squelching reform, which I’ll get into, with some DNC decisions that look even more bad now than they did when progressives were howling about them at the time.¹

How the party responds now to its stunning loss — who gets into the room where it happens, who runs for what and on what platform — will largely be determined by who wins the election to replace Harrison.

Back in 2017, delegates who backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wielded enough power that the corporate wing gave them the deputy chair position, held by then-Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN). Since Ellison stepped down in 2018 to serve as Minnesota attorney general, however, the position’s stayed empty, a deafening signal to progressives.

Which means now it’s all about who’s in charge. And the party’s rival factions are already vying to pick who that’ll be.

Reportedly, leading Democrats will meet next month in Scottsdale, Arizona. And by then, the field will already be set. Largely by the party’s donors, if no one’s there to oppose them.

So is anybody watching?

Legacy media aren’t putting the battle on TV. Or even on the front pages. Reporting that is coming out has a lot of vital information about who’s considered the frontrunners, but it’s not getting the kind of attention that would ignite pushback against a Harrison successor who’s just more of the same. Without massive support, progressives won’t have the numbers to overcome the consultants and big donors this time.

And already some familiar and troubling names are being floated to steer the party for the next four years. Even the terms of the debate over the role ought to sound the alarm bells.