WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party messed up in the 2024 election, says Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, the newly elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and it needs a dramatic course shift to rediscover its brand and put winning “above being right.”
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News on Wednesday, one day before he was officially elected as chair, Casar laid out his vision for the future, saying that Democrats need to return to their roots as the party of the working class. That means welcoming voters who disagree with the left on cultural issues and not being “seen as preachy or disconnected.”
In the wake of a devastating defeat to President-elect Donald Trump that Casar insists was avoidable, the congressman said Democrats must refocus their core identity on helping workers and increasing wages — but do so “without throwing vulnerable people under the bus.”
He rejected the view that Democrats need to turn against immigrants or transgender people after Trump campaigned heavily on those issues in his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Instead, Casar said Democrats should change course by redirecting such attacks and accusing the GOP of fueling culture wars to distract voters from their agenda of helping the rich get richer.
“The progressive movement needs to change. We need to re-emphasize core economic issues every time some of these cultural war issues are brought up,” Casar said. “So when we hear Republicans attacking queer Americans again, I think the progressive response needs to be that a trans person didn’t deny your health insurance claim, a big corporation did — with Republican help. We need to connect the dots for people that the Republican Party obsession with these culture war issues is driven by Republicans’ desire to distract voters and have them look away while Republicans pick their pocket.”
That means the Democratic Party needs to “shed off some of its more corporate elements,” to sharpen the economic-populist contrast with Republicans and not let voters equate the two parties, he said. He predicted Trump and the Republican-led Congress will offer plenty of opportunities to drive that distinction, including when it pursues an extension of tax cuts for upper earners.
“The core of the Republican Party is about helping Wall Street and billionaires. And I think we have to call out the game,” Casar said. “The Democratic Party, at its best, can hold people or can have inside of its tent people across geography, across race and across ideology. Because we’re all in the same boat when it comes to making sure that you can retire with dignity, that your kids can go to school, that you can buy a house.”
A new image, not ‘preachy or disconnected’
Casar, 35, from Austin, ran unopposed for progressive chair to take the reins from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who is term-limited. It’s a rapid rise for the native Texan and son of immigrants from Mexico, who was a labor organizer and Austin City Council member before winning his second term in the House last month.
Casar’s remarks add to an intense debate within the Democratic Party in which some blame Harris’ defeat on the excesses of the left, imposing social litmus tests that alienated large swaths of working-class voters. Harris was dogged by some stances she took in her first run for president in 2019, most notably her endorsement of gender-affirming care for inmates, including those in the country illegally, paid by taxpayers, which Trump used to depict her as disconnected from ordinary Americans.
Casar believes the median voter stands to the left of the Democratic Party’s mainstream on economic issues, and he admitted that, at least today, the median voter is more culturally conservative than his party. He said the solution is to lead without getting too far ahead of where that voter is on social issues.
“I think we should lead the country, but we should never be more than an arm’s length ahead,” Casar said. “If we get more than a couple arms lengths ahead of the country, then you’re vulnerable to attacks from the Republicans.”
He said it could be fixed by refashioning the party’s image toward the kitchen-table needs that keep average voters up at night.
“It’s less of a left-right fight and more of a getting back to a Democratic Party that’s for everyday people, no longer being seen as preachy or disconnected,” Casar said.
Reflecting on the 2024 election, Casar attributed Harris’ loss less to her campaign and more to “where our entire Democratic Party brand has wound up.” He also said President Joe Biden clearly erred in deciding to run for re-election (the president dropped out under pressure in July after a disastrous debate performance).
“I think that it was clear that President Biden needed to step down,” Casar said. “Some people felt a level of loyalty to the president for his work. And I think that comes from a good place. But we can’t lose. … We are now at a place where we have to put winning way above being right all the time.”
“Coming from Texas, I know what the cost is of losing,” he said.
