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FEATURING JOHN NICHOLS - Bruised and beaten in the 2024 election, Democrats are contending with the loss of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, and with the fact that millions of Democratic voters simply didn’t vote. A Supreme Court dominated by conservatives completes the Republican stranglehold over a nation that media pundits claim is deeply polarized. 

The party could tack right to try to win over Republican voters—a standard response to its losses in recent years—or it could tack left given how poorly the standard response has worked. 

Internal party elections for the chair of the Democratic National Committee are a bellwether for which direction the supposedly liberal party veers. If progressive Democrats have their way, they’d like to see Wisconsin’s DNC chair Ben Wikler work his organizing magic nationally. 

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