Former Maryland governor and DNC chair candidate Martin O’Malley didn’t mince words about the state of the Democratic Party after President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory last year.
The politician appeared on CNN on Friday morning and admitted that his party had been “beaten badly” after Trump’s victory and expressed his belief that Democrats were defeated because lost touch with the working class in America.
“What we failed to do was connect with the biggest problems that the hardest working people in America were having, which was the fact that inflation, as they felt, was rising faster than their wages,” he told network host Kasie Hunt.
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Former Maryland governor and DNC presidential candidate Martin O’Malley slammed his party for losing sight of the concerns of middle-class voters in an appearance on CNN. (Screenshot/CNN)
O’Malley presented himself as the next DNC chair and someone who could bring change to the damaged state of the party.
“The staggering losses we’ve had, the fact that our brand has been so damaged that the most valuable people in America have lost sight of us—they thought we were more for the elites than for them—this calls for a time of change, and I believe I have the ability to be that change agent. ,” he said.
He continued, noting that his experience as governor and chairman of the national board in the past made him the best candidate for the position.
“I’m the turnaround – the operational leader of the turnaround, probably the best in our party, which is why the president sent me to Social Security. Second, I actually chaired the national committee… And third and finally, I actually ran for election myself,” he said. .
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Other liberals recently accused former President Barack Obama of reorienting the Democratic Party to pander to elites instead of the working class, leading to their recent defeat in the presidential election. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Hunt asked O’Malley if he agreed with Democratic strategist James Carville’s recent assessment that the party has not focused enough on economic issues.
In a New York Times guest essay on Thursday, Carville wrote“We lost for one very simple reason: it was, is and always will be the economy, stupid. We must start 2025 with that truth as our political north star and not be distracted by anything else.”
O’Malley told Hunt he “totally” agreed with the former Clinton adviser’s claim and mentioned that Carville had given him advice on running for the seat.
The candidate added that change is necessary to become that party, to “return to our true self, because the very purpose of our party’s existence is the economic security of every single American.”
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IN interview with The Hill published this week, an anonymous progressive strategist called out the party for abandoning the working class as well, singling out former President Obama for catering to the elites.
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“I don’t know exactly when Democrats lost comfort with populism, but I don’t think it was because Trump picked it up,” the strategist told the newspaper, adding, “I think Trump picked it up because Democrats gave it up during Obama’s years, when they started chasing money from Silicon Valley, and Obama wanted to appeal to college-educated people who think populism is disgusting and uneducated.”
