Dorchester Democrats Reflect on the State of the Party

According to some polls, the Democratic Party is more unpopular than it’s been in decades. Only 31% of respondents in a recent Quinnipiac University survey had a favorable opinion of the party, with 57% viewing it unfavorably. In the 2024 election, the Democrats lost ground with nearly every demographic group as Donald Trump recaptured the White House, and Republicans flipped the Senate and held onto their razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, effectively locking the Left out of power.

In fact, Trump drew a higher percentage of the vote in Maryland than in 2020, and he improved his numbers in all 24 jurisdictions. The election loss has led many Dems to reflection on their standing as a political movement, to refocus not only how they present themselves to voters but also how they internally govern the party.

In the meantime, Trump and his billionaire associate Elon Musk appear to be in the midst of a shock-and-awe campaign to remake the federal government as they see fit. Many Democratic voters believe their national representatives have been slow to mount a resistance to what they see as destructive activities. As the New York Times put it, “Democrats…need to show some fight.”

But, even as constituents have been putting on the pressure, a recent CBS News/YouGov poll revealed that 48% of Democrats have not much or no confidence that congressional Democrats can effectively oppose Trump. Some representatives have become involved with a number of protests mounted by civilian activists, but the anger of those protesters was directed not only at Trump and Musk but also at the “weak-kneed opposition of the Democratic Party leaders,” in the words of The Nation‘s Chris Lehmann.

To better understand what’s going on with the Democrats on a national and local level, the Spy recently spoke with Sarah Gavian and Sydney Bradner-Jacobs of the Dorchester County Democratic Central Committee. The following answers have been edited for length. They are opinions and do not represent the stance of the Cambridge Spy.

What does the Dorchester County Democratic Party do?

GAVIAN: So, we are part of the national and state Democratic parties. They are divided down to county level. So, we are the county office of the Maryland Democratic Party. What that means is we do our mandate, which is to elect Democrats. Strictly speaking, that’s our goal. We have strategies around that and the like, and we do it different ways. But yes, we would like to recruit, elect, and support Democrats, get them into office. That is, strictly speaking, our goal. We do a million things around that to accomplish that goal.

What part do you play in the state party?

GAVIAN: We don’t have our own legal standing. We are a part of the state party. … So, the 23 counties and the city of Baltimore each have a Democratic Central committee. … Dorchester is half of 1% of the state’s population. We all have our central committees, and all the members of our central committees are members of the Democratic State Central Committee. We happen to have, in theory, 14 members. In practice, I think we’re about to have 10, so we don’t have a full coterie, but all those folks are part of the state central committee.

On a national level, Democrats suffered major defeats in the last election that put them out of power in all branches of government. Why do you think this happened?

GAVIAN: There are many levels of that. Some of them pertain to how we appeal to the population. And some have to do with forces far greater than the Democratic Party, some have to do with the Republican Party. In some ways, the Democratic Party is known to be the party of the working class. It has been that for many years. Ever since Reaganomics came in, there has been an economic trend in this country where our economy has grown tremendously, tremendously. GDP is up, everything’s big, but it has been not distributed fairly. So, a lot of it is going to the top 1%, a huge amount. And now you can even talk about the 0.1% that control our economy and our politics because of a Supreme Court decision. Help me on that one. What was the one?

BRADNER-JACOBS: Citizens United.

GAVIAN: Citizens United, where money buys you power and speech right now in our system. … It’s not a Republican or Democratic thing, but the Democrats have been trying to fight it under the Biden administration as a sort of handing off of the economy to a very small number of people, leaving 90% of everybody not having any better standards of living than they had set down 30 to 40 years ago. … So, I think that a lot of people are hurting. And then you have the post-COVID problems or during COVID, the government actually showed kind of what European governments do all the time, which is bringing in support so that people had their health care and people had rent. It was also just stimulus going on. And then that money stopped, and government went back to not providing that kind of money. … The child tax credit ended several things that buffered this problem that 90% of our population hasn’t really advanced in its standard of living. … Federal minimum wage, all these things are low. … So, I think part of it is that this really is pain across the voting population and frustration with voters that the Democrats hadn’t solved it under Biden. … I believe that Biden did a tremendous amount…trying to really help deal with some of the poverty issues and the drug costs, all these things that Trump took out Day One of executive orders. … He was able to do that when he didn’t have a majority. What was it in the House? We did have a Democratic majority, didn’t we?

BRADNER-JACOBS: No. So, we lost the House majority back in 2022.

GAVIAN: Yeah. So, we didn’t have all the power, but we did manage to get some of these things through. But they weren’t through in time and they’re not big enough. So, reason number one is voter disillusionment and real pain. So, I think the Democrats, you could say we failed either at messaging or to convince the voter base that our policies going forward would be better than the Republican policies on that side.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, the reason why we didn’t do so well this time around is, I think, that we didn’t focus a lot on the bread-and-butter issues that most folks care about, specifically when it comes to the economy and public safety. … And, when Kamala says that we’re not going back, some of some of us are like, “Yeah, we don’t want to go back.” But there’s other voters that just felt like, “We do want to go back because we felt good.” Yes, the economy under Biden was good, but some people didn’t feel that. And, as a result, they weren’t as enthusiastic for Kamala Harris.

GAVIAN: I mean, Biden had the best economy and jobs of any president, far better than Trump’s. Inflation was a worldwide phenomenon. … Post-COVID, governments around the world got thrown out. Inflation around the world was worse than it was in the US. We did one of the best jobs. Still, it was high, really high, and it hurt. But people don’t look at it that way. So, some of that’s perception and, I think, what things we focused on.

The Republicans made major gains with working class, minority, and young voters. Why did the Democrats lose those demographics?

GAVIAN: I am going to continue to hit on misinformation. … But I think we won those. I believe we won the women and we won the black vote. And the Latino vote, I don’t know if we won the Latino vote, we lost some ground.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, we did, but by a smaller margin than past years.

GAVIAN: It looks like the Republicans are saying they have a mandate. And they have the House, they have the Senate, they have the presidency, they seem to have the Supreme Court, and they seem to have quite a growing share of the media. … But we would say they don’t have a mandate, they have power. I will say they bought it legitimately at the ballot box. None of us are calling fraud. … But they didn’t win by much. … So, I do want to go back to your other question. I think that Gaza hurt us. … Without even discussing the policies one way or another, you know that there was a vocal opposition to the Biden administration’s actions in Gaza. … But some Arab Americans, or the people who are very concerned about human rights and genocide violations in Gaza, did not vote for the Democrats, and some of them voted for the Republicans. … So, the question is why we lose these demographics. When I go back to misinformation, or people, they’re frustrated for the economic reasons, or they’re frustrated about what is a questionable engagement in Palestine.

What can the National Democratic Party do to improve its standing?

GAVIAN: As you know, we’ve just put in a new head of the National Party with Ken Martin. … I think that we’ve put in place at least a leadership that understands that we really do need to focus on the issues that concern rural America, working class and working people. … Obviously there has to be a significant amount of listening, reaching out to communities, understanding the questions you’re actually asking. Why was it you didn’t vote with us? … The other thing that’s going to help the Democratic Party is the Republican Party. I mean, when people start to understand that they’re dismantling government, dismantling 100 years of putting in place programs that almost everyone in this country benefits from one way or another. … The Democratic Party’s role then is to offer the alternatives, to be clear about those alternatives. … And the Democrats are, first thing I want to say is, by the way, we’re not the majority. So, we can’t stop it by our votes. We haven’t managed to stop a single cabinet appointment yet. … But there are several things that we’re doing. So, we’re pushing back against this far right extremism, and our legislators are doing it. … They’re doing everything they can right now. … But the Democrats are mobilizing, mobilizing fast.

In the wake of Trump’s return to power and the start of his agenda, the reaction of the Democrats in Congress has been noticeably slow. What’s the issue there?

GAVIAN: I’m not going to accept the question.

Okay.

GAVIAN: Again, he’s been in power two weeks, right?

Well, three.

GAVIAN: Is it three now? … And they’re moving fast. We are not the party in power….

Remember, there was a march either the day before or the day after his [first] inauguration. And some people say that there’s been too much cocooning, you know, going into the fetal position, when they did start out, like, right away protesting against him [before]. … I’ve got a lot of articles I can share with you.

GAVIAN: People say a lot of things right now. There’s a gazillion articles, I think.

Well, that’s why I wanted to hear from you.

GAVIAN: Fair enough. … I mean, let me say, we definitely hear what you’re saying. People come in and say, “What are you doing?” … So, our people in Congress are voting pretty much as a block on the things in front of them to protect the interests. … So, I think what’s happening is, we are doing public mobilization. So, we are informing as fast as possible and letting other groups do things. I mean, let’s talk locally, for example. I mean, here we are a little county office. … There’s ten of us on our committee, but we have been building our own coalitions locally. We are having event after event explaining what’s happening to the extent that we can to inform. … Our goal is to elect Democrats, but we are working to inform our volunteers and other Democrats. We have newsletters and we have a Facebook page, and we have meetings that we have open participation in to hear what people’s concerns are and to inform them about what’s going on.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, yes, people are feeling helpless right now. … But I think that the Democratic Party will, in 2026, inspire people with a good bread-and-butter message that will influence people to go out to the polls and vote for us, because, at the end of the day, Democratic Party policies are popular among the public. … And I guess one other thing to add, maybe Trump may have some high approval rating right now, but it will eventually go down. And, as we’ve seen right now with Elon Musk and DOGE, the approval rating towards how they’re handling the entire dismantlement of our government agencies is underwater. … And, if they keep on doing more and more, that’s going to upset some of the folks that voted for Trump, and they will return to our coalition, I think.

Has the Democratic Party placed too much focus on such issues as DEI, which seemed to work against it in the last election?

GAVIAN: I’m going to stand by DEI. I’m going to stand by diversity, equality, and inclusion. We, on a very profound level, need as a society to support people. The American Dream is or the American effort is based on merit. We would like everybody to get at the same starting line and work hard. … Not everybody gets up to that starting line. Intergenerational wealth, mental illness, any of a number of, you know, what schools you go to and all these things that we know about right now. … So, yes, there is a controversial set of policies around what’s been called Affirmative Action and DEI. … So, there’s been many people who are not classic DEI. So, there are white rural people. We represent a county that is rural and 60% white, and sort of 40% non-white. … Cambridge is like half the average income of Maryland. Dorchester is a poor county. … So, people legitimately need help, and they’re mad that they think the other person is getting ahead. … Yes, we’re taking quite a hit right now against what is called DEI and wokeness. But no, we have to stand by helping all Americans get a fair chance.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, I’m going to push back against some of the pundits on cable news and say that cultural issues was not the biggest part of why Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump. … Do I think that maybe there is a small smidgen of truth where maybe cultural issues are the reason why Democrats lost? And I would say given the fact that Kamala did not talk about the economy or your basic bread-and-butter issues as much.

GAVIAN: I do not believe that the MAGA and Trump vote reflects tremendous sexism and racism. … I think they’re worried about access to jobs and to resources because those have not been shared fairly. I think it is definitely a tool of the millionaires and billionaires to have the fight go on between people who don’t have. So, everybody’s, you know, “Oh, it’s the immigrants fault. Oh, women are taking your job. Oh, black people are taking your job.” I think that that’s a created problem.

Governor Moore recently wrote, “You can’t show voters you only care about them every two or four years.” What can the Democratic Party do between elections to connect with the people?

GAVIAN: I can tell you what we’re doing to go local. On several levels we are doing community works and community engagement and making sure we are attending municipal meetings, understanding what the municipal issues are. … So, we are actively recruiting to put people on school board, to put people on police commissions and planning groups and getting people involved with CAN, just bringing people into local governance. … So, we are fanning out, we’ve done a lot of door-to-door where we ask folks at the door how they see things. We are planning phone banks and spaghetti dinners and all those kinds of things where we can ask them questions. Because there’s a learning process going on as to what are these concerns, and we are working to get Democrats elected at local level. … So, we’re working to reach out at the local level and get our people more engaged in local processes. That was on the political side. We’re doing that as well with community services. Just understanding better how immigration is working. … We’re getting more and more out in the community.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, to continue what Sarah was saying, Democrats lost ground everywhere almost, they lost ground almost everywhere nationwide. And I think most folks, I think the reason why is, most folks see the system as broken. And so, we need to, as a party, do some deep listening, as Sarah suggests, within some rural white working-class voters within our community. And by listening to them and doing that, we can overall get those voters back into our coalition and do better.

GAVIAN: Our plans are not just the white working class.

BRADNER-JACOBS: Of course, yes.

The Eastern Shore was cut off from the rest of Maryland for centuries, part of the reason it’s more conservative. Do you ever feel like your efforts in Dorchester County are too challenging?

GAVIAN: Until about four months ago, we had more registered Democrats in Dorchester County than registered Republicans. However, two things are true. They were beating us. Like in the Hillary campaign, then Trump, Biden by about 14 points.

BRADNER-JACOBS: Yes. So, the last time any Democrat won on the presidential level in Dorchester County was Bill Clinton back in [1992]. And he only won because of Ross Perot in the race. And the last time a Democrat got even above 50% in Dorchester County was JFK.

GAVIAN: The Republicans turn out much more and the margin is substantial. Democrats are not turning out at the same percent, much lower percents, kind of withdrawing from the political system. … We now have fewer registered Democrats than registered Republicans. … Many people are withdrawing completely from partisan politics. This is, I would call it a false equivalence, but they just don’t like either party, kind of thing. So back to your question. That’s daunting. … We have a stronghold of Democrats in our urban areas, both in Hurlock and in Cambridge. It’s not going to the right. I mean, it’s challenging, but it’s not desperate.

BRADNER-JACOBS: So, ever since the 2018, Talbot has been doing Democrats and Talbot has been doing well. 2018, Colvin beat Andy Harris and Ben Cardin won overall, and then in 2020 Biden won overall. Then in 2022 you had Wes and you had Heather and a few others do well, and Van Hollen as well. He did, he won.

GAVIAN: And Kamala Harris almost won. How many votes?

BRADNER-JACOBS: She only lost by six votes in Talbot.

GAVIAN: Six votes in Talbot. So, we’re not the same as Talbot. We don’t walk and squawk the same as Talbot. But just saying that, no, let’s not see the Eastern Shore as a barren territory. And then going more toward the theme you’ve heard us evoke is working more with the people, like, the Democratic Party has not been so great on rural politics. We’ll own that. And we’ve been working very hard. And there’s a group called the Eastern Shore Democrats and the Maryland Democratic Party itself working more and more on sort of rural Democratic issues right now. … Yes, rural areas have been going redder and redder and it’s not just here, and it’s been going since Obama. … But we are really counting on the fact that, as we move more toward the rural base in our policies and our conversations, that we will be able to win those voters.

BRADNER-JACOBS: I think that it’s going to be a struggle for Dorchester to win in the future. But it’s a possibility that we can win, but it’s going to take some time. And I think that’s by reaching out to more rural areas, maybe we can potentially expand that opportunity, and not even just that, but also get our voters to turn out specifically in Cambridge. I’m not sure if you know, but Dorchester County statewide had, outside of Baltimore City, the lowest Democratic turn-out, and most of it came from Cambridge. And so, we desperately, yes, we need to turn out our voters in rural areas and make sure that they vote our way but also make sure that our voters in Cambridge actually go out and vote. And when we do that, that’s how we’re going to do better.

GAVIAN: Our team has been growing quickly in the last few years a lot. We are much more organized than we were five, six, eight years ago here, and in the last campaign we knocked 4,000 doors. … We made phone calls, we did mailings that we had never done before…. And Dorchester shows up as having lost less ground to Republicans than most counties in the state. … So, no, we’re not depressed. We’re on a roll. It may take some time, as Sydney said, but it may not take time. … And…people may really learn the difference between the parties when the Trump Administration comes in as destructive. And there’s no doubt that every single one of our government functions could be reviewed to be more efficient, right? But that’s not what’s happening here. And this is not how you do it, firing people overnight, stopping foreign assistance, 10,000 people in USAID hobbled overnight, babies dying around the world because we cut off foreign assistance overnight, handing our whole soft power architecture off to our friends who will swoop in on there like the Europeans and to our enemies like China or Russia. But there is substantial possibility that this will lead to a real diminishment of our interests, our ability to negotiate worldwide with friends, our soft power aspects of our diplomatic mission. … I forget the numbers, but an awful lot of our budget abroad, a humanitarian budget is food assistance that is bought from American farmers. So, I think that we are going to help to do what we can to support populations through this really trying time and persuade them that we can offer a better alternative in 2026 and in 2028.