What's next for US Democrats after a heavy election loss?

It's been a rough few days for Democrats in the US. They didn't just lose the White House in the election on November 5, but the Senate as well (the race for control of the House of Representatives was still ongoing Thursday evening as of local time in Washington).

In an emotional concession speech at her alma mater Howard University, Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that "the light of America's promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting."

In addition to the flowery words, which are quite common in US election campaign language, Harris also said she was "so proud of the race we ran. And the way we ran it."

But clearly, something about Harris's campaign didn't work the way Democrats hoped it would.

"No doubt there'll be a lot of post-mortem discussion, an autopsy of the results and the campaign if you will," Filippo Trevisan, an associate professor at American University's School of Communication, told DW. "Did the party do enough to give their base good reason to go out and vote for Kamala Harris? I don't think they did."

Trevisan says that Harris tried so hard to win over moderate Republicans or undecided centrist voters that she didn't address core Democratic voter groups enough. As a result, large numbers of young voters, African American men and Latino men shifted over to Donald Trump. 

Democrats did not adequately address voters' concerns

The economy was one of the main, if not the biggest, issue in this election, and Harris failed to adequately address the concerns of people who struggle with getting a foot on the property ladder or with putting food on the table.

"It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned the working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them," popular independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont said in a statement released on Wednesday. "First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well."

So far, there has not been much of an acknowledgement of any mistakes made during the campaign. DW's Laura Kabelka went to a press briefing at the White House on Thursday, where Biden made an appearance but did not take any responsibility for his party's major election loss.

"All questions on accountability and regrets were avoided," Kabelka said. "The main message was that the Biden administration accepts the will of the people and will now focus on a peaceful transition of power. The fair and transparent elections were praised and, similarly to what Vice President Harris said a day prior, it was emphasized that a defeat does not mean being defeated."

Trevisan believes that this is not enough going forward.

"There needs to be a lot of reflection to make sure these material [economic] concerns many people have are addressed credibly in campaigns going forward," he said.

Democrats can't just be anti-Trump

The next federal elections in the US are the midterms in 2026. To be successful there, Democrats' actions as the opposition party under President Trump is key.

"Democrats will need to look at how to calibrate their attacks during the early days of the Trump administration," Trevisan said.

But at the same time, being opposed to Republican politics isn't everything. Democrats also need to figure out what they stand for and how their values and policies can win people over.

"You can't just be a 'No'-party, you need to come up with proposals," Trevisan said. "Don't just say Trump's deportation plans are immoral, come up with your on plans and convince people that your alternative is better!"

'Genuine debate within the party' is crucial going forward

The next presidential elections are in 2028. Since there is no sitting Democratic president, the field will be open to any Democratic candidate willing to throw their hat in the ring. Trevisan believes this will be good for the party, since approaches from across the broad ideological spectrum within the Democratic party will be brought up. Voters then decide what they see as the best way forward in each state's primary election.

"There'll be genuine debate within the party," Trevisan said. "This could have already happened before this election, if Biden had stepped down after one term, as he had originally said in 2020."

Instead, Joe Biden held on until it was impossible for him to do so, making Harris the anointed candidate who was never voted on by the people, and giving her just 107 days to campaign — an incredibly short time by US political standards. Democrats are not happy with how that strategy played out.

Laura Kabelka contributed reporting.

Edited by: Wesley Dockery