Democrats are asking what went wrong and where they go from here, as President-elect Trump prepares to take office in January.
The dust may be beginning to settle from Vice President Harris’s loss, but the questions for a party that has lost control of every branch of government have only grown sharper.
Every aspect of the Democrats’ political project — who will lead the party, how they will counter Trump, and what adjustments they need to make to ensure a defeat like November’s does not get repeated — is in flux.
And, in an era of perpetual campaign, the clock is already ticking toward the 2026 midterms and the battle for the White House four years from now.
One big unknown is whether Harris herself will stay in active politics once she leaves office as vice president in January.
On one hand, American politics is usually harsh on losers. Until Trump this year, the last person to have won a presidential election having lost on a previous occasion was Richard Nixon more than half a century ago.
On the other hand, Harris partisans note that she faced a hard task this year. Having taken over in dramatic circumstance atop the ticket after President Biden abandoned his reelection bid in July, the vice president had to crank up a fundraising apparatus, make herself better known to the nation at large, and try to thwart an opponent with an avid base of supporters.
Even though she came up short, the possibility of another attempt for the White House has not been ruled out.
In the shorter term, one of the more notable —........