Is this what the embattled Democrats need right now?
As President Donald Trump chugs along his second term, generally notching more wins than losses, many Democrats have all echoed a similar question:
Sans a party figurehead — like the role Trump presently occupies for the GOP — the leader-less Democrats have been looking for some sort of unifying voice to guide the party amid the ongoing Congressional reign of the Republican supermajority.
The last two leaders of the Democrats, former President Joe Biden and failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris, have both been somewhat rejected by their own party — once before, and once after the general election, respectively.
In lieu of such leadership, the Democrats have yet to find a current elected official to rally around, though that hasn’t stopped some younger voices, such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett, from pushing for leadership positions within the party.
Both Ocasio-Cortez and Crockett, however, lack the proven experience when it comes to guiding the Democratic Party as a large whole.
Obama has had that experience. He’s just not been especially present.
According to Axios, that’s set to change.
Do you think Republicans will gain seats in the midterms?
The outlet reports that Obama will be “joining DNC chair Ken Martin for a high-dollar fundraiser in Red Bank, New Jersey, on Friday evening.”
Of note, it’s the first such event that Obama has participated in since the Democrats lost Congress and the White House to the Republicans in 2024.
Obama’s apparent return to the political arena comes as a few crucial elections come up for the Democrats.
This coming November, New Jersey holds critical gubernatorial and state legislative elections. Next November will coincide with the 2026 midterms, which will represent the best chance for Democrats to swing the balance of political power until 2028.
That being said, for Democratic pessimists, questions linger if this is “too little, too late” from the ex-president.
As the generally Democrat-friendly NBC News reported in late May, “Obama world” had apparently lost “its shine in a changing, hurting Democratic Party.”
“David Plouffe, long hailed as the brilliant architect of Obama’s 2008 victory, served in a key role in Harris’ campaign and is now among those tagged with a devastating defeat,” the outlet noted.
“The shine’s off Plouffe now. He was the golden boy,” Democratic megadonor John Morgan told NBC. “Now he’s just an old broken-down boy, who lost. Big.”
Morgan’s assessment, however biting it may be, is still just one person’s take. Alas, it’s not just him.
“While many Democrats still admire Plouffe’s successes, the harsh words punctuated a growing sentiment across a party searching for a path forward: Team Obama’s bloom may be falling off the rose,” NBC News noted.
Perhaps, worse yet for the Democrats, Obama’s luster doesn’t appear to have been lost, it appears to have been stolen.
“The so-called Obama coalition of voters — less politically engaged voters, younger voters and voters of color — is no more,” NBC reports. “In 2024, each of those groups shifted toward Trump in high numbers.”
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