As he concludes his time as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison is downplaying his party’s November loss to President-elect Donald Trump and arguing Democrats avoided even greater losses that parties in power have faced around the world.
But he acknowledged that Democrats must do a better job of selling the party’s priorities and accomplishments for the working class. He also called for continued nationwide investments in party infrastructure and better use of non-legacy media.
“I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that Kamala Harris is not going to be the next president of the United States,” Harrison said in an interview Monday.
But “the political pendulum in this country has been swinging swiftly, back and forth,” he added, and “we got to buckle up and get ready for it” to continue.
Harrison made similar arguments in a memo being distributed Tuesday to Democratic Party leaders and donors around the country.
“Although Democrats did not achieve what we set out to do, Trump wasn’t able to capture the support of more than 50% of the electorate and Democrats beat back global headwinds that could’ve turned this squeaker into a landslide,” Harrison wrote, comparing Democrats’ losses in the U.S. to the more sweeping defeats that parties in power suffered in democratic nations around the world since the coronavirus pandemic and global inflation.