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2025 didn’t simply expose Democratic divisions — it created a brief listing of political losers whose missteps are already shaping the battlefield for 2026. From institution leaders squeezed by a stressed progressive base to nationwide figures who burned valuable time, this previous yr has left behind a collection of cautionary tales for a celebration out of energy.
MODERATE DEMOCRATS PUSH BACK AS PROGRESSIVES MOVE TO OUST JEFFRIES, CLARK OVER TRUMP STRATEGY
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proper, and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., stroll communicate to members of the media outdoors the West Wing on the White Home in Washington, Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Evan Vucci)
Institution and old-school Democrats
The loudest, most seen Democratic figures haven’t simply voiced opposition to the Trump administration — they’ve additionally made it clear they anticipate a brand new model of the celebration to emerge going ahead. From Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in New York Metropolis promising expansive authorities program will increase to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s trace that she may beat Vice President J.D. Vance in a bid for the presidency, progressives can simply say that they had a few of the most seen momentum in 2025.
And that’s unhealthy information for old-school Democrats.
As just lately as final month, each Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Home Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., confronted major challenges from their progressive base. These challengers cited dissatisfaction with their resistance towards the administration. It’s unclear if these calls are disproportionately loud in a second the place Democrats discover themselves out of energy. However many reasonable Democrats informed Fox Information Digital they don’t suppose it’s serving to win over the voters’s political center.
Ought to progressives proceed to crowd out the image in 2026, extra institution Democrats could discover it more and more troublesome to disregard strain from their far-left flank because the nation heads into the midterms.
GOP SEIZES ON DEM CIVIL WAR AS PROGRESSIVES JUMP INTO KEY 2026 SENATE RACES: ‘THEY’RE IN SHAMBLES’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks throughout a marketing campaign occasion in assist of Proposition 50 in San Francisco, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle by way of Getty Photos)
Gavin Newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is operating out of time to show why he may very well be one thing greater than a celebration messaging determine. Up to now yr, he’s pigeonholed himself into precisely that position.
In 2025, Newsom cemented himself as one of many key Democratic foils to Trump’s agenda. And on that entrance, there’s little query he capitalized on the eye.
Most notably, Newsom pushed by a redistricting effort meant to squeeze 5 Republicans out of workplace after Texas superior the same plan earlier this yr. Whereas the plan obtained blended critiques — even from Democrats within the state who have been cautious of combating fireplace with fireplace — it has definitely superior Newsom’s nationwide standing.
However like each would-be Trump foil, Newsom finds himself considerably reliant on Trump for his subsequent transfer. Ought to Newsom start to place himself for a 2028 bid for the White Home, he gained’t have that luxurious round perpetually, and he solely has another yr as California’s governor.
Newsom burned valuable time in 2025 to indicate voters in California and throughout the nation what sort of government he may very well be.
DEMOCRATIC HEAVYWEIGHTS HARRIS, NEWSOM TURN HEADS, FUEL 2028 SPECULATION
Former President Joe Biden talks to reporters on the South Garden of the White Home, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein)
Joe Biden
On a number of key points, former President Joe Biden’s legacy has already grown previous in 2025.
It took simply weeks for the Trump administration to dismantle the declare that Biden was doing every little thing he may to cease unlawful border crossings from pouring into the US. With a couple of key government orders, Trump introduced the nation to one in all its lowest ranges of border encounters ever.
And whereas that’s essentially the most notable entry, the listing of double-takes doesn’t finish there.
An autopen investigation within the Home of Representatives revealed Biden had delegated an unprecedented quantity of authority to his aides. Furthermore, a guide put out by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson took a deep take a look at simply how arduous his interior circle had labored to keep up the president’s picture amid considerations about his age and cognitive capacity.
Taken collectively, Biden’s administration only one yr eliminated has plunged Democrats into questions of the place to go subsequent and offered Republicans with a wealth of proof to make the case Democrats weren’t as clear in regards to the nation’s issues as they may have been.
‘ROCK STAR’ NEWSOM STEALS THE SHOW AT DNC SUMMIT AS DEMOCRATS HUNT FOR 2028 CONTENDER TO TAKE ON TRUMP
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer offers a thumbs up as he walks out of the Senate Chamber after talking on the ground of the Senate on Dec. 20, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Photos)
Chuck Schumer
Few political figures have had as politically damaging a yr in 2025 because the Senate minority chief, Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
He obtained many of the blame for a disastrous 43-day authorities shutdown that largely left Democrats empty-handed. Whereas Schumer himself didn’t vote with the eight Democrats who finally supported a Republican plan to finish the shutdown, he obtained calls to step apart within the aftermath for failing to maintain Senate Democrats on the identical web page.
Based on many Republicans, the political calculus for Schumer through the shutdown was extra about placing up a ok battle to appease the progressive facet of the Democratic base.
However Schumer additionally failed to do this too.
Through the shutdown, the New York Metropolis mayoral race had come to its closing stretch with little phrase from the Senate Minority Chief. When it turned clear the self-proclaimed socialist Zohran Mamdani would seize the celebration’s nomination, Schumer tried to dodge questions on whether or not he would assist his bid. That reluctance by no means went away and questions in regards to the relationship between the 2 Democrats solely intensified.
Simply days faraway from the election, Schumer continued to present non-answers about Mamdani.
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Now on the shut of 2025, Schumer has left questions unanswered about whether or not he can nonetheless successfully lead the celebration and whether or not he represents the celebration’s future.
