Veteran Democratic strategist Patti Solis Doyle said Friday that the Democratic Party is facing a crisis of leadership, message, and direction following significant losses in the 2024 election cycle.
Speaking on the “Next Up with Mark Halperin” podcast, Solis Doyle said the party is currently without a central figure or unifying vision after losing the White House, failing to reclaim the House of Representatives, and watching Republicans regain control of the U.S. Senate.
“I have never been happier not to be actually in it — in the middle of politics — than I am right now, because it sounds really depressing, what’s going on at the party,” Solis Doyle said.
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“I mean, overall, when you lose, the party that loses gets, as you know, as I know personally, attacked and criticized. And ‘you’re the stupidest people who have ever walked the planet,’ and ‘how could you have missed that?’ And that’s what’s happening with the Democrats right now. They’re getting attacked from all sides.”
Solis Doyle, who served as campaign manager for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential bid, pointed to a lack of clear leadership as a major issue for the Democratic Party moving forward.
“The other problem that they have is that there’s no real leader. If your party holds the White House, the leader of the party is the president. If your party doesn’t hold the White House, the leader of the party is the last president of that party,” she said.
“So right now, for us, that’s Joe Biden. But he has completely — he’s off the radar completely … So right now, we’re leaderless, we’re messageless, we’re agendaless. We don’t have any alternative ideas to the president’s and the Republicans’ right now. So I’m concerned to say the least.”
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Recent polling supports her assessment.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found that 62 percent of Democratic voters believe their party needs new leadership.
By contrast, only 30 percent of Republicans expressed a desire for new leaders within their own party.
Hear this Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries: Democrats want new leaders, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds https://t.co/PIIvfG4V1Y pic.twitter.com/athzD38VAX
— Shibley Telhami (@ShibleyTelhami) June 19, 2025
Additionally, a May poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed that only about one-third of Democrats felt “very optimistic” or “somewhat optimistic” about the party’s future.
Another poll from Puck and Echelon Insights conducted in May found that likely voters associate the Democratic Party most commonly with the descriptors “liberal,” “weak,” and “corrupt.”
Among Democratic and Democratic-leaning respondents, the most frequent term used to describe their own party was “weak.”
Dan Turrentine, another former Democratic strategist, echoed Solis Doyle’s remarks during an appearance on “Jesse Watters Primetime” Wednesday.
“I think part of the problem is we don’t have an agenda right now,” Turrentine said.
“And, you know, winning campaigns focus on the real lives of real people with effective leaders and something positive to say. And we have none of the above.”
🚨NEW: @danturrentine TORCHES Dems for having no “agenda”🚨
“I think part of the problem is we don’t have an agenda right now. Winning campaigns focus on the real lives of real people with effective leaders and something positive to say. And we have none of the above.”… pic.twitter.com/6jMLpfMeLY
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) June 19, 2025
The internal criticisms from party strategists come as Democrats begin to assess their strategy heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
With President Donald Trump back in office and Republicans holding majorities in both chambers of Congress, party operatives are now grappling with how to rebuild messaging, leadership, and voter enthusiasm amid deep fractures within their ranks.
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