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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.

By Alexandra Rojas, Zeteo

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.

Chicago, Illinois, August 19, 2024- Vice President Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention.

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.

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Democratic Party Political Reform