For the first time in two decades, the Democratic Party has found itself without a clear party leader or even an obvious frontrunner. Angry and adrift, politicians and voters are clashing over how to fight back.

They’re also grappling with an uncomfortable new reality: The places that shifted hardest away from Democrats last fall were the kinds of communities that formed the backbone of the Democratic coalition for years—working-class, nonwhite, and heavily immigrant areas of blue cities and states.

Now the battle for the party’s future and reckoning over its recent past is coming to a head in New York City, where support for Democrats has cratered among Latino and Asian voters. In one of the first big tests of the party’s direction after Donald Trump’s reelection, Democrats will choose between radically different options for mayor: a centrist former governor in his 60s who resigned in disgrace and a millennial democratic socialist whose rise in the polls has shocked the political establishment.

This week on Reveal, we head to New York to talk to voters who abandoned Democrats in November and take you inside the bitter fight to win them back.

Support Reveal’s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/weekly
Connect with us on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together?

Reveal