Veteran political adviser Philippe Reines joined others in criticizing the modern Democratic Party after recent election losses, suggesting it has been taken “hostage” by the far left.
“The majority of Democrats don’t agree with the things we are being tagged with,” Reines, a longtime aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, told CNN in a Friday morning appearance. “I think Democrats believe in common sense stuff more than you realize.”
He pointed to open border policies and allowing transgender athletes who were born male to compete in women’s sports as examples of issues that “most” Democrats disagree with — including two House Democrats that spoke out against the latter recently. Reines added that the party just hasn’t been communicating its position on “common sense” policies effectively.
“You can have a healthy conversation within a party, and you have to have room within a party for all this, but at the end of the day, if you have some of these issues that are 80/20 across the country, you really gotta figure out why they’re being so tagged with one [party],” he said.
President-elect Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election early Wednesday. The GOP also flipped the Senate. The contest marked the first time in two decades that a Republican won the popular vote, spurring larger conversations about Democrats’ strategy.
Reines played a role in Vice President Harris’s campaign against Trump, including standing in as the GOP nominee during her debate preparation. The Columbia University grad and political consultant played a similar roll for Clinton in 2016 and is still a loyal confidante of the former New York senator.
“How do we go forward from here? First, it comes from us. Yes, we have to listen to everybody,” he told CNN. “But Republicans don’t get to tell us … what everybody wants. This is still a 50/50 country.”
Reines’s remarks were similar to those made by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) earlier this week, who said the far left had an “outsized impact” in shaping public perception of the party, which he argued hurt them in the election.
Torres, who won his reelection bid, held progressives responsible for promoting slogans he said pushed key voting blocs away from Democratic candidates and Harris.
