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While Democrats essentially swept Tuesday’s off-cycle elections by overwhelming margins, boosted by Donald Trump’s historic unpopularity and an extremely energized liberal base, the party is still hunting for a figurehead leader who can help them retake power from the GOP. According to a new poll from Politico, the most popular answer when Democratic voters were asked who they considered to be the real leader of the party was “I don’t know.” Finishing in third place was “nobody.” The survey, which polled Americans who voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, showed that there are currently dozens of competitors for the crown, with Harris garnering the second most responses. Even though the ex-veep was the only person on the list to hit double-digits, only 16 percent of the people who voted for her last year believe she is the Democratic leader. In comparison, “I don’t know” or a variation of that answer was chosen by 21 percent of respondents. With last year’s presidential nominee – who is seen as a possible 2028 contender and has been making the media rounds recently promoting a book – pulling in relatively meager support as the face of the party, a host of other senior lawmakers and ex-presidents were also named by Democrats as possible leaders. On the flip side, the only other notable name who has been floated as a 2028 hopeful is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who barely topped six percent in the poll despite his highly publicized antagonism towards Trump and Republicans – which culminated in his redistricting effort winning easily in Tuesday’s elections. Barack Obama, who left the White House in 2017 following Trump’s first electoral victory and cannot run again, was picked by 7.4 percent of Democratic voters as the leader of the party – just behind Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House. Joe Biden, the 82-year-old former president who announced last July that he would not seek a second term amid calls for him to drop out following his disastrous debate performance against Trump, finished in 8th place at 4.4 percent. “Ugh no one,” a 26-year-old white woman in Arizona who voted for Harris told Politico when asked who the leader of the party was, while a 49-year-old white man in Maryland added: “I do not believe there is a leader right now.” With Democratic strategists also telling Politico that this is merely “where we are” and that even they “couldn’t couldn’t tell you who the leader of the Democratic Party” despite working for Democrats, they still see a lot of hope after Tuesday’s results. Two moderates in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races sailed to double-digit victories despite some pollsters (and Fox News) suggesting the GOP candidates – especially in Jersey – could make it close or even win the seats. At the same time, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani convincingly beat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayoral election, leading to a full-blown freakout by MAGA media and Republicans sounding the alarms about the midterms and 2028. “It felt like we’re getting our footing back, in terms of politics,” a strategist for the centrist Third Way think tank told Politico, adding: “That has not yet translated to people seeing clearly who they think is pointing the direction of the party.” On the flip side, Trump – who can’t run in 2028 despite what some MAGA influencers have claimed – is overwhelmingly seen as the current leader of the GOP, with no other Republican even garnering three percent of the tally. The president finished at 81 percent among voters who chose him in last year’s election. Jared Leopold, a strategist who has worked for the Democratic Governors Association, pointed out that the lack of a clear leader for Democrats is “pretty standard for a party that is out of power.” He compared the party’s situation right now to where Democrats were in 2008, when Obama emerged, and in 2016, when Trump became the face of the GOP. “Democrats were successful [Tuesday] as a big tent party running on affordability and against Donald Trump,” he added. “That’s a two-piece equation that will be successful for us as we move toward 2028.”
