James, just-released analysis by Nate Silver makes clear that the tectonic shift which erupted on November 5th could deliver victory to the Republicans in election and after election:

About half of Biden’s 2020 voters who stayed home in 2024 appear to have backed Trump this year - Nate Silver

Bernie put the reason plainly: Democrats have abandoned working-class families. But many Democratic leaders are refusing to confront the widespread rejection of the current Democratic party to avoid upsetting billionaire donors and entrenched interests.

Many of us are exhausted and frustrated, but as Bernie says: despair is not an option. The work starts now.

The Our Revolution team is scrambling everything to build inside and outside support to comprehensively transform the party. This means banning dark money and holding consultants accountable, building the bench by recruiting dozens of working-class candidates for races across the country in 2025, all while preparing to stop Trump’s attacks on Medicare, Social Security, and crucial safety-nets for American families.

Many Democrats are burying their heads in the sand, avoiding the fundamental rejection that’s just taken place. Sitting around and waiting for a ‘mid-term backlash’ will not bring them back to power.

They have completely misunderstood what’s happening in this country, which Bernie pointed out BEFORE the election and AFTER the election:

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working-class has abandoned them…While the Democratic Party leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.”

Waiting around for a midterm backlash is not a strategy that will win back the trust and votes of working families who, as Nate Silver highlights, “were more concerned by pocketbook issues than democracy or abortion rights.”

There is an enormous task ahead of us to get the DNC to adopt a transformative progressive platform that puts working-class families first, kicks billionaire dark money out of the party, and recruits working-class candidates up and down the ballot. Our political team will be focusing on hundreds of local races and building up progressive majorities in cities that can protect our communities (sanctuary cities, LGBTQ+, and others).

It is going to be a slog, and much of this work will happen out of the spotlight and headlines of the day — but it is absolutely essential if we’re going to create a party and a platform that will beat the GOP and deliver for poor and working people.

Can you chip in today to our Despair is Not an Option Fund as our organizers pivot our resources at this critical juncture?