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Democratic donkey necktie.

The Consultants Who Lost Democrats the Working Class

The rivalry of two men tells the story of how Democrats fumbled with their traditional base—and how they can win again.
People holding antiwar signs at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

A Brief History of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party, and the US political system as a whole, is a very strange beast.
W.E.B. Du Bois

When Did Black Voters Shift to Democrats? Earlier Than You Might Think

A look at how and why African Americans first started to abandon the GOP for the Democratic Party.

The Life of the Party

In his latest book, Michael Kazin argues that the Democrats have long sought to build a “moral capitalism.” Have they ever succeeded?
Exhibit

A Big Tent

Exploring the history of the Democratic Party, from its earliest days through the New Deal, the Long Sixties, and the post-Cold War era.

Bill Clinton in the background, another man in the foreground.

What the 1990s Did to America

The Law and Economics movement was one front in the decades-long advance of a revived free-market ideology that became the new American consensus.
Drawing of a crowd of delegates at the 1972 Democratic National Convention. (Franklin McMahon / Getty Images)

A Big Tent

The contradictory past and uncertain future of the Democratic Party.
Blue and red donkey logo of the Democratic Party.

Hope in the Desert: Democratic Party Blues

In 'What It Took to Win,' Michael Kazin traces the history over the past two centuries of what he calls ‘the oldest mass party in the world’.
Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and Barack Obama walking together

How to Tell the History of the Democrats

What connection does the party of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson have to the party of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris?
Henry Wallace.

The Past and Future of the Left in the Democratic Party

Centrist Democrats who blamed the left for election losses would do well to remember the people who have fought for and shaped the party’s history.
A drawing in the style of a 1980s video game of shooting at rainbows.

Jesse Jackson’s Political Revolution

Before Bernie Bros vs. the DNC, there was Jesse Jackson vs. the Atari Democrats.

Haunted by the Reagan Era

Past defeats still scare older Democratic leaders — but not the younger generation.

Democrats Aren’t Moving Left. They’re Returning to Their Roots.

Many on both sides are worried about the party’s leftward swing. They say it’s a deviation from the mainstream. It’s not.

The New Old Democrats

It’s not the 1990s anymore. People want the government to help solve big problems. Here’s how the Democrats must respond.

The Bobby Kennedy Myth

Many on the left have learned the wrong lessons from his ill-fated presidential bid.

Identity Politics Can Make or Break the Democratic Party

Racial justice energized the party in the past. It can today too.

The Party of Hubert Humphrey

The Democratic leader believed that the ordinary American was open to a message of collective responsibility and common purpose.

The New Working Class

Democrats should abandon the specter of the right-wing hard hat, and recognize today's working class for what it really is.

Why Did White Workers Leave the Democratic Party?

Historian Judith Stein debunks liberal myths about racism, the New Deal, and why the Democrats moved right.

How Women Changed American Politics

How feminism and antifeminism created Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

The Art of the New Deal

Despite a fractured party and health concerns, FDR capitalized on name recognition to win the 1932 presidential election.
Bill Clinton in front of a poster that reads "New Democrats".

Atari Democrats

As organized labor lost strength, the Democratic Party turned to professional-class voters to shore up its base.
Black Democrats raise their hands at the Democratic Convention.

23 Maps That Explain How Democrats Went From the Party of Racism to the Party of Obama

The longest-running party in America has seen significant shifts in its ideological and geographic makeup.
A political cartoon of Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a crow on his shoulder, representing Jim Crow.

The Not-So-New Deal

The New Deal brought Black voters over to the Democratic Party, but was marred by racial inequality.
Portrait of Martin Van Buren.

The Father of the Party System

Because Martin Van Buren was an unsuccessful president, his more significant contributions to the nation’s political life have also been obscured.
Harris carved in stone next to Mount Rushmore.

Kamala Harris Must Grapple with America’s Founding Fathers

To achieve a new political settlement, she has to resolve a tension dating from the Revolution.

How John Lewis Put a Legacy of Heroism to Use

As the civil-rights era receded, his personal heroism loomed larger. But movement politics didn’t easily translate into party politics.
A McDonald's worker handing a bag of food to someone in a drive through.
partner

What Harris Talking About Her McDonald's Job Reveals

Harris' rhetoric about working at McDonald's shows how Democrats have rethought their 1990s emphasis on fast food jobs.
A drawing of two people speaking with a third person's head listening between them.

Diverging Majority

Demography has not managed to be destiny in the past half-century—but predictions of a millenarian shift have not lost their appeal.
Art piece of a hand holding barbed wire.

Do Border

Who can migrate to the US and make their home here? Who gets to drop US-made bombs, and who is expected to suffer them? These are not unrelated questions.
Aaron Henry of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party delegation speaks at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

60 Years Ago, Courage Confronted Racism at the Democratic Convention

My grandmother and the fight over the 1964 Mississippi delegation.

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