For a year-and-a-half, our party has been wandering aimlessly through the wilderness, hoping to stumble on answers about how lost our way, and where we go from here.
For months, the futile search suffered from self-inflicted damage, as DNC Chair Ken Martin – who won the job vowing to publish a comprehensive accounting of what went wrong in 2024 to inform the path forward – orchestrated a ham-handed cover-up of his own long-promised roadmap.
When CNN’s Isaac Dovere published the autopsy yesterday – a document so shoddy that the DNC felt obliged to disavow each page & enumerate the author’s failures in red pen – our journey finally reached its impossibly perfect conclusion:
Ladies and gentlemen… The Democrats!
I kid, I kid – this is almost entirely on Ken Martin – but you just have to laugh at us being literally unable to draw any conclusions.
Honestly, even I am exhausted by the autopsy discourse at this point, so I’m not gonna rehash all the painful details. (read great reporting from NBC, Politico, NYT, etc.)
But I do think it’s important to elucidate why this ordeal matters; it is not just some petty distraction to be swept under the rug. For example, here’s one thing on my mind…
Next week, the DNC’s Rules & Bylaws Committee (RBC) – which is tasked with setting the presidential primary calendar – will evaluate presentations from states that applied to hold early contests in 2028.
Ken Martin overhauled the RBC last year, and now has many close allies on the panel.
The calendar will have massive implications on the entire shape of the race. People need to trust the DNC – its impartiality and its competence – to run high-stakes processes like this; like setting debate criteria and delegate selection rules and more.
Ken Martin has incinerated his own credibility, and now he is compromised – desperate to line up support from DNC members & Democratic leaders in order to stay in power. It’s a recipe for disaster.
I have zero personal animus for Ken. Had he not lied to our faces for a year straight, I would feel awful for the guy. Fuck, I still kinda do, cuz I’m soft as hell. But the stakes are too high; he needs to be replaced immediately.
Rob Flaherty & I discussed the autopsy on the latest NKA episode. We also interviewed RO KHANNA, who offered a pretty compelling diagnosis and forward-looking vision of his own. And we talked to former NEWSOM + BOOKER campaign manager Addisu Demissie about 2028, CA-Gov, and more. (The cutdown version should be out on YT / in your podcast feeds this AM.)
We also talked to Politico’s Adam Wren for Playbook this morning, and Rob did Jake Tapper last night, among other things.
What I saw at CAP IDEAS
At a convening this week that featured many of the Democratic Party’s rising stars and 2028 hopefuls, it was – to my surprise – Elizabeth Warren who delivered the most compelling pitch.
The Center For American Progress held their signature IDEAS conference on Tuesday, which brings together center-left heavyweights to outline a forward-looking agenda. It was a great event, and there were certainly affirmative ideas – but it did still feel like it was fighting Trump that disproportionately animated the day.
A few different factors set Warren apart for me, and I think they’re broadly applicable lessons. (And I should be clear, she does not seem to be gearing up for another run, but rather explicitly trying to shape the 2028 conversation.)
She positioned universal child care as the thing that motivates her; I can’t think of a single 2028er who has any semblance of a defining issue at this point. I do think having a couple things rather than a laundry list will be essential.
She outlined a specific policy + a clear theory of change. She made the case for every Dem to embrace it now, run on it in ‘26 & ‘28, kill the filibuster, and do it Day One if Ds have the WH in ‘29, ensuring families can actually access that care the same year.
She explicitly named the impediments that thwarted previous efforts, including taking direct aim at Dems: “Build Back Better was never about how to build a robust, effective child care system… We lost child care because not enough Democrats who were already in office were willing to fight for it.”
Here are my other other takeaways from the day:
RUBEN GALLEGO has been flexing his national security muscle in a series of speeches, carving out a unique niche that leverages his voice as both a Marine vet and a working class kid who understands the true costs of war & who tends to bear them. The CAP Ideas address followed similar ones at the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum & FP4A’s Leadership Summit – and he’s headed to Ukraine later this month to keynote the Black Sea Security Forum.
CORY BOOKER is one of the only Dems I’ve seen make a concerted effort to appeal to MAHA, which feels like a huge missed opportunity for the party, but smart of Booker, and certainly authentic to him. He unveiled a HEAL America Agenda centered on 1) doubling SNAP benefits spent on real fruit and veggies, 2) making every meal the US gov’t pays for (i.e. school lunches, military) a healthy one sourced from American family farmers, and 3) letting people buy produce with pre-tax dollars (i.e. via an HSA).
WES MOORE used the stage to tout Maryland’s all-of-the-above approach to public safety. I find a running theme with Moore is rejecting false choices, in this case between supporting law enforcement and building stronger communities. Notably, the speech did not contain the word “Trump,” which you love to see.
Toward the end of his session, GAVIN NEWSOM offered what I thought was a particularly sharp diagnosis of the moment we’re in, and the task before the Democratic Party:
“We’ve been too timid. It’s not about tinkering anymore… The anxiety is manifesting in real despair for people. I mean, their pessimism is pretty profound. And AI [is] gonna detonate that. We have to fundamentally understand that… We need to be the party of transformation, and we have to talk in those terms – but in a way that doesn’t alarm people. And that’s the balance. Because change is hard… That’s gonna be the dance.”
Quick Hits
I spoke spoke with WaPo’s Dan Merica about JOSH SHAPIRO’s ideal 2026-2027 setup after his chosen candidates in 4 key House districts each won their primaries Tuesday. Given the national mood, he could help flip all 4, win his own reelection in a landslide, and flip the PA senate to give Dems their first trifecta in 33 years – clearing the way for huge legislative wins in 2027.
GAVIN NEWSOM signed a novel executive order Thursday to prepare for potential AI workforce disruption, directing CA agencies to explore a range of policies including universal basic capital, worker ownership models, and employment insurance that would pay companies for keeping workers rather than automating jobs away.
AOC, CORY BOOKER, & RAPHAEL WARNOCK were among the speakers at the All Roads Lead to the South rally for voting rights in Montgomery, Alabama last weekend.
ANDY BESHEAR keynoted the NHDP convention and campaigned for Dems across the state – his third NH trip in the past 7 months. He’ll be in SC next weekend, headlining at the SCDP’s Blue Palmetto Dinner & joining Jim Clyburn at his famous fish fry, alongside RO KHANNA.
MARK KELLY spent multiple days in SC last week, speaking out against GOP redistricting efforts at the state house, and meeting with a slew of local leaders and organizers across the state.
CHRIS MURPHY published a piece in The Atlantic on private equity hijacking youth sports – an adapted essay from his new book coming out on Tuesday; the tour will take him to 6 states in 6 days next week.
RUBEN GALLEGO endorsed Josh Turek for IA-SEN, Hector Mujica in FL-28, and Johnny Garcia in TX-35.
RO KHANNA endorsed Justin Pearson in TN-09.
Highlights from the Big, Beautiful Tracker
RO KHANNA on Nobody Knows Anything
MARK KELLY on Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know
WES MOORE on On The Road with Jonathan Martin
RAHM EMANUEL on Straight Shooter with Stephen A
ANDY BESHEAR on New Hampshire Today with Chris Ryan
Time Capsule
Here’s a letter to the editor from a then-14-year-old (!) RO KHANNA that ran in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1990 imploring leaders to prioritize the value of soldiers’ lives over the short-term economic or political upside of the Gulf War.
