NATIONAL HARBOR, United States: US Democrats choose a new flagbearer on Saturday (Feb 1) who will be tasked with rebuilding a party still reeling from last year’s crushing presidential defeat, and figuring out how best to oppose Republican Donald Trump.
Meeting in a large hotel near Washington, members of the Democratic National Committee, the party’s governing body, are carrying out a postmortem of their November loss and selecting a chairperson responsible for drawing up their new battle plan.
“This is not a game of chess where everyone is moving their pieces back and forth in a respectful, timed manner. This is guerilla warfare in political form,” said Katherine Jeanes, deputy digital director of the North Carolina Democratic Party.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a rising Democratic star, warned the party must “not to go into hiding until the next general election”.
“We need to band together and show the country what we can achieve,” he said at the party’s general session on Friday.
The moment calls for boldness, added Shasti Conrad, chair of the party’s Washington state branch, warning that many Americans have lost the faith.
“They don’t trust us to be able to make things better. They don’t trust that when we are given power, that we know how to use it,” Conrad said.
And the fight starts now, she added – there can be no waiting until the next presidential election, set for 2028.
“We have to be organising all year round,” said Conrad, a candidate for one of the party’s deputies.
Among the favourites to lead the Democrats into the future are Ben Wikler and Ken Martin, party chairmen in Wisconsin and Minnesota, respectively, two neighbouring Midwestern states.
Trump narrowly won Wisconsin over Democratic opponent, former vice-president Kamala Harris, in last November’s election.
Harris defeated Trump in Minnesota – but lost the majority of traditionally conservative states in the centre of the country.
