‘The Party Needs To Be Purged’: Stephen A. Smith Delivers Blunt Message To Democrats

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said Monday on Fox News’ “Hannity” that Democrats need to tell the “extreme left” in the party “to hell with that.”

With the Democratic Party struggling to find a leader and clear messaging since November 2024, some have begun rallying behind figures like socialist NYC mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Speaking with Fox’s Sean Hannity about the state of the party heading into the 2026 midterms, Hannity asked Smith about the party’s support for, among other things, open borders and soft-on-crime policies. (RELATED: Democrats Now Like Socialism Much More Than Capitalism, New Poll Shows)

“Let me speak. How many times have I been on this show and I’ve said the party needs to be purged,” Smith said. “Chuck Schumer, I mean, he doesn’t have the cachet that he once had. AOC has too much damn cachet as far as I’m concerned at this particular moment in time. Jasmine Crockett keeps getting soundbites all over the place. You love plastering her on Fox News.”

“Bernie Sanders, he’s at rallies in New York City, praising about Mamdani or what have you. That’s not going to win you a general election, I don’t think it’s going to win you the midterm. It might win them New York City,” Smith added. “You might have a shot at winning California, but the vast majority of Americans ain’t going to flow with that.”

With the Democrats scrambling for a leader, the party’s voter registration numbers and approval ratings have plummeted significantly.

According to a New York Times report released Aug. 20, between the 2020 and 2024 elections, Democrats lost an estimated 2.1 million voters across 30 states, alongside Washington, D.C. In comparison, Republicans added 2.4 million registered voters and gained more new voters than Democrats between 2024 and 2025.

WATCH:

“We’re not going down like that!”: Stephen A. Smith tells Dems to start saying “to hell with that” to the “extreme left” in the party pic.twitter.com/hacWnEiRSN

— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) September 9, 2025

“Yes, you have some Democrats out there that are centrists that believe in government involvement a bit more so than conservatives. But in the same breath, we ain’t about defunding the police. We know that we [are] going to dial 911 when there’s trouble on the horizon. We know that the crime needs to be addressed. We know that the economy needs to flourish. We know that we need national security,” Smith said.

“We know that we need strong borders. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be a Democrat if you believe in those things. It means that the party has changed because it’s been taken over by others on the extreme left, and others need to stand up and say, ‘To hell with that. Hell no, we’re not going down like that!’ Because they will be going down on a national scale if that’s the vision for America from this side. There’s no way it’s going to work,” Smith said.

While some Democratic lawmakers expressed confidence in flipping the House in the midterm election, a slew of recent polls show the party’s favorability has dropped significantly. According to a CNN poll conducted in March, the party hit only a 29% favorability rating, dropping a staggering 20 points since January 2021. Additionally, a Quinnipiac poll released in July showed only 19% of respondents approved of the Democrats’ congressional leadership.

Suggestions for who could lead the Democratic Party have varied, with some believing Mamdani could be the future of the party. Others see California Gov. Gavin Newsom regaining traction.

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