“What just happened?” is a question that many of us have been contemplating since Tuesday, given what we perceived to be very high voter enthusiasm and promising polling trends. As a young Black man fortunate enough to have experienced politics firsthand, I do not have all the answers, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the election and my message to voters and the Democratic Party, especially the youth and minority leaders in the political space.

Across party lines, gender, and race, Americans have expressed that Donald Trump should be President of the United States and that Republicans should hold the U.S. Senate, and potentially the U.S. House of Representatives. Although this was not the outcome I wanted, I respect the decision of my fellow voters and wish well to all those elected this past Election Day. But when polling suggested numerous paths to victory for Democrats across the nation, what went so wrong?

The Democratic Party has lost its soul and passion. When we lose the core demographics that shaped great Democrats like John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bill Clinton, and many others, we lose the essence of our party. Democrats were once the party of the working class, both college-educated and those without degrees, labor unions, the Black community, the Latino community, suburban families, urban families, and the underserved and underprivileged. Yet, exit polling data shows the Democratic Party has made some of these very communities feel so alienated in recent years that some now believe Trump and the MAGA Republicans better represent their interests. How could that be? Tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy, placing enormous tariffs on goods—hurting the average consumer most—dismantling the Department of Education—which would devastate our urban schools and special needs/disabled students—and mass deportations that would harm our economy by suppressing GDP. If this platform resonates more with communities that built the Democratic Party, then we’ve failed to meet their needs and/or failed to effectively communicate with them.

Trying to save face, Democratic pundits, elected officials and others in recent days have shifted blame, either onto the voters or President Biden but not the party. If we, the Democratic Party—myself included—truly want to improve, we must take accountability and make a plan for change. We should not and cannot blame these voters for our party’s underperformance because they did not leave us—we left them behind.

As a party, we have been talking down to these voters for years, and they’ve finally had enough. We cast blame on Black men for hesitating to support Vice President Harris, even though they felt that immigrant labor threatened the jobs they needed to support their families. We approached the Latino community as a monolith, expecting a one-size-fits-all approach to address their complex issues. The biggest concern that led people to the polls was the economy. Yes, our country does have the strongest economy in the world, but those living paycheck to paycheck, stretching $100 over two weeks, and struggling to afford rent—let alone a mortgage—do not feel that strength.

In New Jersey, I appreciate and respect our party’s focus on closing gaps in swing states, but we need to ensure our own house is in order before working on homes outside the Garden State. This election showed that Democrats barely held seats we never imagined would be close, and some of those localized races unexpectedly flipped red. While New Jersey made it out of this election intact for our federal races, if we don’t change, losing will be our future.

Exit polling data also suggests that voters supported Trump not to embrace Trumpism or MAGA populism but as a referendum and mandate on the Democratic Party. Our current formula—forming policies that the party believes address voters’ concerns, along with the communication strategy surrounding our policy platform and accomplishments—is not translating into success. We must take time after this election to analyze voter file-specific data, further understand where we went wrong, and truly talk to and understand the communities that used to make up our party, then change our formula based on those conversations.

Especially for our Gen Z voters, this election is a dire shock, as we have only known presidential elections in which Democrats won the popular vote because Democrats had the popular platform. So, for our party to lose the popular vote this time around should be embarrassing and a wake-up call to all. Now we must ask: Is it time to include new voices and perspectives at the table to help restore the soul, passion, and foundation of our party? The Democratic Party, from our municipal to county, state, and federal committees and organizations, needs a heart-to-heart—a “come to Jesus” moment—because if we don’t change soon, we will lose crucial elections for years to come.

To those concerned about their future and place in this country, I implore you to keep hope alive. Stay diligent, organized, passionate, energized, and true to your values and beliefs because we cannot afford to be submissive and complacent under this new administration. The Democrats’ approach may not be working, but we are the authors of our own future, and we must take action and put pen to paper if we want that future to be realized. If we lose hope and fail to put in the work, we will have failed the greatest experiment on earth: the American experiment.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/exit-polls
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/politics/2020-2016-exit-polls-2024-dg/

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Kemani Scott is Chairman for Allentown Borough’s Democratic Committee and a staffer to two elected officials having served in state and federal politics.