{"id":16662,"date":"2025-12-13T14:17:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T14:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/democrats-gather-in-california-feeling-sunny-once-again\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T14:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T14:17:05","slug":"democrats-gather-in-california-feeling-sunny-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/democrats-gather-in-california-feeling-sunny-once-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats gather in California feeling sunny once again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As Democratic Party leaders gathered in Los Angeles for their annual winter meetings this week, for the first time in a long time the mood was warm.<\/p>\n

Optimism coursed through the hotel ballrooms, following a string of double-digit wins in off-year elections last month. Democratic National Committee members flocked to California Gov. Gavin Newsom \u2014 a likely presidential contender \u2014 for selfies<\/u><\/a> and major donors are resurfacing after a period of hibernation. Conan O\u2019Brien, Jane Fonda and Shonda Rhimes joined Illinois Governor JB Pritzker for a major donor gathering, according to an invitation obtained by Blue Light News. And Nebraska and Utah officials are among those expressing interest in hosting the party’s novel midterm mini-convention next year, according to three people briefed on the conversations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party, broadly, is just feeling like they got their sea legs back,\u201d Newsom told reporters in Los Angeles. \u201cAnd they\u2019re winning and winning solves a lot of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

DNC Chair Ken Martin nodded to the vibe shift in his own remarks Friday: “I can tell you, it’s a much different feel in this room than a few months ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But for all the energy at the DNC\u2019s winter meeting, Democrats are still confronting challenges. The committee\u2019s finances are shaky at best, badly trailing their Republican counterparts. The committee has yet to release its 2024 autopsy in full, as Democrats continue to argue over why the party lost so resoundingly last year. A proxy battle looms over the presidential primary calendar, as several states continue to lobby DNC members on the sidelines of this week\u2019s meetings.<\/p>\n

Former Vice President Kamala Harris was warmly received when she addressed the convention Friday night, but her return to the national stage, fresh off a controversial book release<\/u><\/a>, is also a reminder of the party\u2019s fractured response to its sweeping losses in 2024, when Donald Trump defeated her in every swing state on his way to becoming president.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Harris gave DNC members a reality check<\/a> by delivering her most expansive diagnosis yet of what she sees as the country’s broken political system. \u201cWe must be honest that for so many, the American dream has become more of a myth than reality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Most pressingly, the DNC faces serious financial problems. In October, it took out a $15 million loan<\/u><\/a>, framed by the party as a financing investment into the New Jersey and Virginia elections that Democrats ended up dominating. While not unprecedented, it was a larger sum of money earlier in the cycle than is typical. The committee’s loan also brings the Republicans’ cash advantage into sharp relief \u2014 the Republican National Committee has $88 million more in the bank when accounting for the debt, according to November\u2019s Federal Elections Commission filings.<\/p>\n

And some party members still want answers from the committee\u2019s self-diagnosis for what went wrong in 2024.<\/p>\n

The DNC still hasn\u2019t released its long promised post-election report, after earlier saying it wouldn\u2019t come before last November\u2019s elections. They have so far only shared initial findings with top Democrats at the committee\u2019s national finance meeting<\/u><\/a> in October. The preliminary findings, which a DNC aide insisted at the time were incomplete, criticized Democrats for not investing resources early enough, while ignoring discussion of former President Joe Biden\u2019s age. But some DNC members are looking for more answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard for an organization to self criticize, so you need to keep the pressure up to make them do it,\u201d said Eric Croft, the chair of the Alaska Democratic Party. \u201cThey said they\u2019d do it. We\u2019re going to make sure that they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But things of late are looking much rosier. Democrats are cheered by their double-digit victories in New Jersey and Virginia governor\u2019s races last month, as well as a slew of other off-year and special elections in which their candidates outperformed their 2024 margins. They even denied the GOP<\/a> its supermajority in the Mississippi state senate. Public polling suggests the wind is at their backs in the 2026 midterms.<\/p>\n

DNC members estimated the electoral momentum will help with fundraising.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are ready to open their wallets up now that they\u2019ve realized what they\u2019ve voted for,\u201d said Manny Crespin, Jr., a committee member from New Mexico. \u201cNow that they\u2019ve realized it\u2019s actually affecting their pocketbook, they\u2019re going to do everything they can to reverse that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the biggest decisions ahead for the DNC will play out in a little-known yet powerful panel, the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which is charged with setting the 2028 presidential primary calendar. States have until Jan. 16<\/u><\/a> to apply to be in the early window, but the behind-the-scenes jockeying for a spot<\/u><\/a> has continued, several DNC members said privately.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the early states are trying to lay their groundwork to get the committee to back them,\u201d said a Democratic operative who attended the DNC meeting. \u201cThere\u2019s a bit of a proxy war brewing on this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Democratic Party leaders gathered in Los Angeles for their annual winter meetings this week, for the first time in a long time the mood was warm. Optimism coursed through the hotel ballrooms, following a string of double-digit wins in off-year elections last month. Democratic National Committee members flocked to California Gov. Gavin Newsom \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}