Democrats Will Keep Losing Until They Cut Ties With Billionaires and Corporations
US flags are seen on the ground after people left the election night event for Vice President Kamala Harris at Howard University in Washington, DC. Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images
Progressive movement leader Alexandra Rojas writes for Zeteo that those in charge of the Democrats’ 2024 campaign should have been fired a long time ago.
There is no one we have heard from more in the aftermath of this month’s election than a revolving cast of Democratic pundits, consultants, strategists, donors, and elected officials who, despite dictating the party’s agenda and tactics year after year, are never to blame. In the last two weeks, this cast of elite establishment cronies have blamed trans kids, immigrants, “the left,” groups like Justice Democrats, and mass democratic movements for speaking up even when it inconveniences the party.
The most important fact that should guide our analysis is what Democrats actually ran on. No, Kamala Harris did not center her campaign on open borders, trans children, ending the genocide in Gaza, or any other issue that these pundits are now blaming. Yes, despite this, Republicans weaponized many of these issues, exploited economic fears to divide our communities against each other, and exposed the number one thing Democrats did not lead with – meeting the economic needs of the working class.
Decades in the Making
This was not a one-cycle problem. This was not even a problem unique to Harris. This is a problem decades in the making by Democratic Party leadership who have worked overtime to serve the needs of corporations and billionaire donors, while leaving ordinary people out to dry. This is a criticism progressives on the left have been charging Democratic Party leadership with for decades. It’s the very reason Justice Democrats was started, to bring working-class representation to working-class communities.
The truth is, the party willfully ignored the left and progressives. It willfully deprioritized the economic populism that unites people across race, gender, class, and zip codes. Instead of leading a campaign against billionaires who make millions in profits while everyday people struggle, Democrats employed billionaires like Mark Cuban as a surrogate to satisfy Wall Street and Big Tech donors. Instead of demanding an end to the US funding of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people and investing that money in working-class jobs, housing, and healthcare, Democrats promised to be the party of forever wars abroad while employing a family of war criminals as campaign messengers.
Mark Cuban answers questions during a small business town hall as part of the Harris-Walz campaign on Oct. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Working-class people in this country no longer see the Democratic Party as a party that fights for their interests. It is a party that repeatedly promises to, but lets its agenda get hijacked by right-wing Democrats like Josh Gottheimer, Joe Manchin, and Henry Cuellar, who took turns obstructing raising the minimum wage, paid family leave, an extended child tax credit, or expanded Medicare. These are Democrats whose districts all voted for Donald Trump last month.
On the contrary, glaringly absent from so much post-election analysis is the pervasive influence of lobbies and Super PACs over elections and messaging like Crypto, AIPAC, Big Tech, and Wall Street – lobbies that Democrats publicly embrace while they betray the interests of millions of Americans. AIPAC spent over $100 million in our elections this cycle for the very reason that their policies are unpopular, became the single largest source of Republican donor spending in Democratic primaries, and defeated two of the most working-class members of Congress. Crypto spent over $230 million to buy their influence and took out the only Democratic senator Ohio had, Sherrod Brown. Democrats refuse to fight either interest, instead pocketing their money, just like they do with Wall Street, Big Oil, and Big Pharma.
Time to Purge
As long as the Democratic Party remains beholden to the same corporations and billionaires that everyday people see as responsible for their economic problems, the party will be for and by the elite. It’s why Harris grew her support among voters making over $100,000 a year and lost support among voters making less. It goes without saying that Republican policies are hurtful to working-class Americans, but Democrats represent a refusal to listen to voters, a refusal to think bigger, to think bolder, and to criticize the party’s coziness with the wealthiest few. Republicans will continue to divide and conquer until we have the courage to actually fight for working people.
A man wears a “lower property taxes now” sign during a protest in Chicago’s Union Park during the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 21, 2024. Photo by Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The path forward for Democrats is not to be further out of touch with grassroots movements and working-class people; it's listening to their priorities and actually building the bold, tangible visions and solutions that lift all boats. We can do that by uniting our communities at the grassroots level to build power and wield it on behalf of everyday people. Whether that’s ensuring every worker has a union to organize towards UAW’s call for a general strike in 2028 or building powerful tenant unions like KC Tenants have to ensure everyone can afford to put a roof over their head in Kansas City. That grassroots mobilizing allows us to come together and finally elect more working-class leaders to represent working-class needs. The best way for everyday people to believe their leaders are actually willing to fight for them in the halls of power is by electing everyday people to those seats.
In any other sector of our economy, a failure this large would demand the firing of those in charge. So the path forward is clear for Democrats, clean up shop and purge the party of the same establishment donors, pundits, and politicians that brought us another Trump presidency. Instead, be the party that rejects corporate money and influence to send a clear message to the working class that we are not for sale and we will always stand up to the wealthy elites raising your grocery, gas, and healthcare prices. Only then will we build a party that working-class people actually see themselves in.