Weeks after their political wipeout, Democrats are casting about for answers on where things went wrong and where they should go from here, including on the issue of abortion.
If you ask former Rep. Dan Lipinski, a pro-life Democrat forced out by his party, he’ll tell you they haven’t learned much.
He made that point when he popped on a recent podcast where Rep. Ro Khanna was discussing how the party needs to stop trying to silence people with different beliefs.
Struck by the Californian’s message, Mr. Lipinski asked if Mr. Khanna regretted helping oust him in the 2020 Democratic primary because of his pro-life views, effectively shrinking the party’s tent.
Mr. Khanna, who at the time called the decision to target Mr. Lipinski over his “anti-choice” views a “no-brainer,” struggled for an answer. He said he felt Mr. Lipinski’s abortion views were out of step with Democrats, even as he also said there shouldn’t be an abortion litmus test.
For Mr. Lipinski, it epitomized the party’s loss of voters.
“I think Democrats have a problem – progressives especially — have a problem of thinking that they know better and that they know what groups want,” he told The Washington Times days after the podcast.
Mr. Lipinski said his Illinois district was “not a big pro-choice district,” and the fight — which saw high-profile liberals such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York campaign against him — was a strange one to pick. The woman who defeated him would serve for one term before losing in her primary in a newly drawn district two years later.
Democrats ran hard on abortion in the last two federal elections, showing some success in 2022 but watching it be less effective this time around as the party failed to win control of the House and ceded control of the Senate while also surrendering the White House — for a second time — to President-elect Donald Trump.
Along the way, they saw significant erosion in Hispanic support and leaked some Black and young voters to the GOP. Democrats also ended up on the wrong side of the gender gap, with men backing Mr. Trump more than women backing Vice President Kamala Harris.
It’s triggered a tidal wave of second-guessing about what went wrong.
Left-wing icon Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont said the failure is one of economics. He argues Democrats got too cozy with Wall Street and big business and abandoned a working-class message.
Mr. Biden’s decision to run again, then drop out late in the contest, has come in for particular scrutiny, as has his attempt to portray the election as a referendum on the nature of American democracy.
Other Democrats warn that the party has gone too far in embracing woke politics or big government solutions at a time when voters are skeptical of how much Uncle Sam’s spending can do to change the trajectory of the country.
Rep. Seth Moulton, Massachusetts Democrat, said the party was hurt by its approach to trans issues.
“I have two little girls. I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete. But as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that,” he told The New York Times.
The result was a barrage of attacks.
His critics said the issue isn’t the party’s stances but perhaps its messaging — or maybe even the stubborn voters themselves. These Democrats figure they can usher Americans further left with a little cajoling.
Mr. Khanna said there is a sense the party needs new ideas and new people and to be more willing to disagree with people without “canceling them” and “give people grace if they use the wrong word.”
“So, how do we be the party of free speech,” Mr. Khanna said. “The second place is on the economy: How are we the party that is bold economic change?”
The lack of a cohesive economic message hurt the party and its ability to maintain its previous level of support from Latino voters, according to other Democrats who say the days of rallying those voters primarily by casting Republicans as hostile to immigrants are over.
The conversation is expected to take center stage in the race to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee. The winner will be tasked with leading the party’s post-mortem review.
Mr. Lipinski said he is happy to see the soul-searching this time around.
He said it didn’t happen in 2016, after Mr. Trump’s first win, which Democrats primarily treated as a fluke, perhaps fueled by Russian meddling. They felt better about that conclusion after 2020 but now face a new reality.
Still, he is skeptical of the party’s willingness to distance itself from powerful interest groups such as Planned Parenthood or the Sierra Club that push litmus tests.
“I’m not sure where that is going,” Mr. Lipinski said. “I think, unfortunately, the incident with Seth Moulton was illustrative, unfortunately, of where things are.”
Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats For Life of America, said abortion is an example of where Democrats could try to win back voters by ending any pro-choice litmus test.
“It seems that the Democratic elites are not listening to or recognizing the negative effects of the pro-abortion strategy,” she told The Washington Times.
Ms. Day said the next head of the Democratic National Committee must take a more big tent approach.
“After three election cycles of campaigning against Trump and in favor of abortion, it will take time to find the way back to promoting and protecting the most vulnerable members of our society,” she said.
Republicans underwent a similar post-mortem exercise after the 2012 election when Mitt Romney fell short in what Republicans thought was a winnable race against President Obama.
The outcome was a report done for the Republican National Committee. It concluded the GOP needed to be more welcoming of illegal immigration and less willing to listen to consultants.
Mr. Trump would defy the immigration recommendation, embracing the toughest stance in history en route to his 2016 win — and then again this year.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.