Former DNC Chair Compares D.C. To Middle School, Has Advice For Democrats

A prominent former Democratic politician has shared his thoughts on where the party went wrong during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Howard Dean, formerly governor of Vermont, spoke with Kasie Hunt on CNN This Morning on Thursday. Hunt asked how he would “diagnose” the problem Democrats face, and what they should do about it.
“The problem is, we haven’t done a damn thing since 2008 about getting out into the grassroots,” Dean said. “The Democratic Party ought to be putting a lot of money into school board races and into city council races, and into local representative races, including in very red states. And they’re not doing that.”
Dean compared Washington D.C. to “middle school on steroids,” because they “work hard, they’re very smart, and it’s all about them all the time.”
Dean went on to reference the 50-state strategy, a campaign policy created in 2005 that aims to focus political efforts in every precinct, city, and state in the country, instead of leaving out states believed to be unwinnable.
An explanation on the Democrats’ website reads, “We know that we won’t be able to win everywhere until we are able to compete everywhere, and that means fielding candidates and providing resources to even the most traditionally ‘red’ parts of the country.”
Dean told Hunt that the strategy “goes to being on the ground.”
Dean ran for the presidential nomination in 2004, becoming an unexpected frontrunner thanks in part to grassroots organizing, although he ultimately lost out to John Kerry.
After his unsuccessful run, Dean went on to be head of the DNC, and his implementation of the 50-state strategy was credited with contributing to Barack Obama’s victory in 2008.
While Dean offered the advice to the party, he also said that he thought “Harris had a great infrastructure and I thought she ran a great campaign, but there’s nothing underneath.”
The Harris campaign has been contacted by Newsweek out of hours via email for comment.
Before the outcome of the U.S. election was announced, the polls had been indicating it would be a very close race between the two candidates.
Since Trump’s win was announced, political commentators across the board have speculated about what cost Kamala Harris the election.
Senator Bernie Sanders made a similar point to Dean, saying he believed the Democrats didn’t do enough to win over working-class voters, adding, “In the coming weeks and months those of us concerned about grassroots democracy and economic justice need to have some very serious political discussions.”
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