The Republican Party won the trifecta in the 2024 elections, shocking observers with gains in nearly every demographic. Democrats, looking to regroup, are aiming to replace their leadership in several key states — in some cases voluntarily and in others involuntarily.
One of the first to resign was Texas Democratic Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa, who ran the state party for 12 years. Despite significant gains during the 2010s, all of this progress was blown on Nov. 5, when the state, once thought to be on the verge of going blue, went 14 points for President-elect Donald Trump. The 1.5 million vote margin was the second largest in the state’s history. The other major race for Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) seat saw the Republican beat his Democratic challenger, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), by nine points despite Democrats’ messaging they were making gains.
Hinojosa acknowledged the blistering defeat in his resignation, which he submitted with two years remaining in his term.
“In the days and weeks to come, it is imperative that our Democratic leaders across the country reevaluate what is best for our party and embrace the next generation of leaders to take us through the next four years of Trump and win back seats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa said, according to the Texas Tribune, urging Democratic leaders “at all levels to join me in lifting up the next generation in order to unite our party.”
The next person to step down was Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes, who announced her decision not to run for reelection last week. She has held the position since 2018.
Though acknowledging the 2024 results were “deeply painful,” she defended her record by saying the party held its own “in a year with stronger headwinds than we have ever seen nationally.” Sen.-elect Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) bested Republican Mike Rogers 48.6%- 48.3%, though Trump won the state’s electoral votes.
“We have been in the eye of the storm here in Michigan, and I’m immensely proud of the work we have done and the organization we have built together,” said Barnes’s statement. “It has been the privilege of a lifetime to work with this MDP staff who are truly the best in the business.”
The situation is much uglier in Georgia, where a civil war is underway to oust the Georgia Democratic chairwoman, Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA), who has held the position since 2019. She faces much of the blame for losing the state to Trump after Democrats reclaimed it in 2020. Trump’s lead in 2024 was 10 times bigger than President Joe Biden’s in 2020.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Williams is facing pressure from donors, activists, and officials to step down three years before her term ends. While acknowledging her defeat, Williams hailed herself as the “most successful chair of a Democratic Party in our state’s history.”
The fight became public after Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) reportedly privately called Williams to tell her to step down, an interaction she revealed to supporters. Williams now appears to be setting the stage for her departure on her own terms.
Leaders in other states have no plans of resigning. Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried, who oversaw one of the worst blowouts in the state’s party history, vowed to keep her position.
“I’m sticking around,” she told WPTV in an interview. “I’m in this for the long haul, to fix this party and to continue building on it … But we don’t have time for finger-pointing. You know, finger-pointing has gotten us into a situation where every two years, we change chairs, and what has that done for us?
Fried argued that attempting to rebuild the party now would result in an “absolute bloodbath for this party.”
Florida has gone far toward the Republicans in presidential elections since the Democrats last won it in 2012. Trump turned his 2020 lead of 3.4 points into more than 13 in 2024, buoyed by a major rightward shift among Latinos.
Despite the purging of some Democratic Party chairs, others seem fully secure. There aren’t public murmurs regarding the unseating of the party chairs in other states that lost big, such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Nevada. In the case of Wisconsin, Chairman Ben Wikler is even eyeing a run for the Democratic National Committee chairmanship.
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One state Democratic Party spared scrutiny was North Carolina, which, though it didn’t deliver the presidential vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, saw major successes in downballot races. North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Anderson Clayton earned praise for her role.
While blame has shifted state-by-state, Democrats are largely united in their blistering criticism of outgoing DNC Party Chairman Jaime Harrison, who announced that he would not seek reelection after the Nov. 5 defeat. Much of the criticism against him was concentrated on his decision to heavily back Biden right up until he announced he was stepping down, despite many other Democratic figures questioning his candidacy.