Leadership Struggles In A Shaken Democratic Party

Democrats facing big leadership issues and struggling with defeat. We’ll look at who will lead the Democratic Party.

It’s a hard moment for the Democrats. They dreamed of having the White House, the Senate, gains all round. Instead, Republicans swept the table. White House, all of Congress — GOP. Statehouse majorities, two to one Republican. So who will lead the Democrats now? The DNC chair is open. Ohio congressman Tim Ryan is making a workingman’s run at Nancy Pelosi’s job. A new generation is restless. This hour On Point, who will lead the Democratic Party from the wilderness? — Tom Ashbrook

Reid Wilson, national political correspondent for the Hill. (@politicsreid)

Symone Sanders, CNN political commentator and former national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) presidential campaign. (@SymoneDSanders)

Jamal Simmons, Democratic strategist. Principal at the Raben Group consulting firm. (@JamalSimmons)

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), Congresswoman representing Florida's 22nd Congressional District. (@reploisfrankel)

The Hill: Vulnerable Dems ready to work with Trump — "Vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection in 2018 are already identifying areas where they’re willing to work with President-elect Donald Trump and Republican colleagues."

POLITICO: Black Caucus member knocks Pelosi over leadership shakeup — "A prominent member of the Congressional Black Caucus is raising alarms over Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's proposed leadership makeover, arguing that her proposed changes could dilute the group's power. The criticisms were outlined in a letter from Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) over the Thanksgiving break."

Slate: Keep Hope Alive — "The fact of the matter is that Americans have never lived lives separated from the material facts of their identities. Jesse Jackson knew this. A liberalism that doesn’t, for example, engage with the specific problems of black workers or undocumented immigrants is one that can’t engage with 'Americans as Americans,' if American is a stand-in for the citizens and residents who exist and not a euphemism for a certain kind of imagined American of decades past."