It is more than a year since President Joe Biden made one of the most difficult decisions in political history and announced that he would not seek re -election. Since that day, and the day that vice-president Harris was lost in November, the Democratic party has a complete identity crisis.
We started with a complete autopsy, we went looking for new messages, new leaders, new formats and new language. We invest millions to “study” how we can make contact with male voters. The holy grail is “authenticity”, which means like a normal person. (That includes curse words, which are a good omen for this New Yorker – waving is our native language.) We listen to everyone who says they have the secret formula.
That is why, when Zohran Mamdani confirmed young voters in NYC, everyone, especially the media, focused his attention on him. He used anger and frustration with inactivity in Washington, connected to the concern of voters about affordability and masterly used social media, ran rings around his older, square opponents. He was hip and he was ‘real’.
The mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, attends the New York City Pride March from 2025 on 29 June 2025 in New York City.
But all hyperventilation is premature. Mamdani won a multi-candidate democratic primary in a deep blue city, held on a day of 100 degrees in June. He received fewer than 600,000 votes in a city of more than 8 million. So let’s not let ourselves be told that he is the future of the Democratic party. I am a NYC -Democrat and I don’t remember anyone outside the five districts that took care of what Burgemeester Bloomberg, Diblasio or Adams did at national level.
Kamala Harris decides not to walk in 2026 opens the door to possible second presidential run in 2028
If you are a Democrat who runs somewhere outside the blue bubble cities, and especially if you try to turn a chair from red to blue, you throw your gaze over the Hudson and the south for the blueprint you need.
Jump on Amtrak and originated in Trenton, New Jersey or Richmond, Virginia, and the answer will be right in front of you.
What you will see are two candidates who have national security references that Democrats would let the patriotic and military voters win because they can walk the walk, not just talking like republicans have in the past. What you will see are candidates who have proven Bipartisan track records in the congress to do shit.
These two candidates are Mikie Sherill and Abigail Spanberger. They are real and authentic.
They are what would be created as liberals and moderates, swing voters and suburbs mothers, young men and military hawks and values-based, pragmatic democrats with national attraction all gave their input to chatgpt. These are two women Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Could campaign with, and Senator Joe Manchin, my former boss, could work together.
To quote Mr Mamdani, we must learn how to say their names because we have to do well.
Democrats are still lost, but a year after the exit of Biden they start to follow the roadmap of a rival
So why are they not raised as the future or blueprint for success? Don’t tell me it is because they have not yet won their general elections. That has never stopped us before. I am old enough to remember that Howard Dean and Beto O’Rourke are crowned as rescuers from the left before they won something. I read: “What’s with Kansas?” I am familiar with the abundant movement. I don’t knock any of them. But let’s be honest: we went looking for answers in much less proven places.
Maybe the gender is. Perhaps we are struggling to see two tough, competent, patriotic women as the leaders who can rebuild the coalition of our party. If you look at their records and performance, they have walked the walk, many of their male colleagues just talk about it.
They are not fantasy candidates. They are not a focus group factories. They are real leaders with real data, with national security references, two -footed pork chops and electoral success in places that are not easy for Democrats. They appeal to voters, military families, independent, trade union members and moderates in the suburbs – all the people we continue to say that we have to win back.
Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger lifts 6 months old Brigid Janik while greeting supporters after a rally at her Alma Mater, JR Tucker High School, June 16, 2025, in Henrico County, Virginia.
And they did it without changing who they are, bend for the winds of polling or language tested by messages. They realized who they were since they were chosen for the first time in 2018.
Click here for more the opinion of Fox News
Abigail is a former CIA -Under cover agent who prevented terrorist attacks and followed transnational gangs and also a post inspection officer investigated those child predators and traders in the drugs. In the congress, she adopted two -part legislation to prevent overdoses fentanyl, Medicare allowed to negotiate lower drug prices and put more agents in the streets of local cities.
Virginia Democratic Gubernatorial candidate and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger speaks during an Everytown for Gun Safety Rally on 10 April 2025 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mikie served for 10 years as a pilot of the navy helicopter and led missions throughout Europe and the Middle East. She was a Russian policy officer who helped in the implementation of our nuclear treaty obligations and supervised the relationship between the American Navy and the Russian Federation -Marine.
Then she joined the American lawyers’ office to help people leave prison, housing and education to restart their lives, and then as an assistant -amese lawyer, she continued federal matters to keep illegal weapons of our streets.
In the congress, she influenced helping the most important investment in roads, bridges and transport in 50 years, as well as the bill that production companies and investments brought back from China to the US
These are not exactly the career paths of career politicians. These are values-based, pragmatic Democrats with national attraction people with whom Elizabeth Warren could camp and Joe Cchin could work together. They do not scream in the void or boiling culture wars. They are not every night on cable news and all day of social media.
Click here to get the Fox News app
They solve problems that are important for working families, and they have the records to prove it. And somehow they did all that without screaming about it at the media.
So, instead of looking for new slogans, influencers or magical polling words, it might be time to look up from our phones and Social media platforms And see what is right in front of us.
