Democrats Are Facing a Leadership Crisis. They Need a Farm Team.

Currently, Democrats are facing a crisis regarding finding new leadership within the party. With many Democrats dissatisfied with Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries and wondering about the future of the party without young people, it is clear that Democrats are struggling to stand up to the geriatric party leadership and actually inspire people to vote for them.

Democrats should no longer be the foil to Trump. This strategy has worked in the short term during the recent past election, but is largely flawed in actually gaining ground in rural areas and among typically non-democratic voters.

Instead, creating a new generation of democratic leadership to actually inspire the voter base would not only electorally empower Democrats across the nation, but it would also help create a democratic party that is robust, less vulnerable to elite capture, and more appealing to young voters. However, the main question in creating a new generation of democratic leadership is “how?”

Easy. A farm team.

What is a farm team?

Commonly used in sports, a “farm team” is a minor-league team affiliated with a larger team, used to provide experience to players who will eventually develop their skills enough to join the more experienced squad.

The political world in the 21st century is increasingly a spectator sport; it only makes sense that the Democratic Party leans into it. Democrats won’t win any more elections if they continue to do their neoliberal voice-of-reason schtick. Americans are growing sick and tired of Democrats constantly needing to be the voice of reason, especially when their course of action to restore reason is to rename bills or gain promises that are never fulfilled by Republicans.

This is a sign that the old guard of the Democratic Party — the Chuck Schumers and Nancy Pelosis — need to step aside, because we are no longer living in the 60s, when Republicans actually had integrity and respect for our democracy. The problem with getting new leadership is not only due to the democratic old guard stepping in the way of younger candidates (e.g., Ed Markey with Joe Kennedy III), nor is it only due to the lucrative nature of being a congressman post Citizens United, but it is all those and that the Democratic Party’s platform, although it claims to be a party of the left, is not progressive whatsoever in adopting new ideas and new candidates who can bring those ideas to the forefront.

A Case Study

In the case of Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York, his platform and his identity as a Muslim democratic socialist were ones that the Democratic Party was averse towards.

This is emblematic of larger issues within the Democratic Party regarding its political aversion to specific cultural representations in broader political arenas, as well as its dysmorphia with not being viewed as a staunchly capitalist party. Which, in many ways, makes the Democratic Party much more of a conservative party rather than a left-leaning one, but I digress. However, due to this, Zohran’s victory shows that the current Democratic Party would rather prefer vapid candidates who agree with the party platform over a new generation of change. This has depressed youth involvement and association with the Democratic Party, especially among males, to an all-time low, because if you are always talked down to regarding your political visions for America, why even try to dream of solutions to our generation’s issues?

All of this is to say that Zohran was successful because he presented hopes for New York’s future instead of acting as a foil of the federal administration, and it massively worked in his favor amongst a majority of New Yorkers. However, the one issue in his campaign was that the Democratic Party didn’t support him. If it did, it was through reluctance and political calculus.

Zohran supporters remember when Kathy Hochul wouldn’t endorse Zohran after he won the primary and only reluctantly threw her support behind him after outrage from New York Democrats threatened her reelection prospects.

Zohran played a perfect game when it came to the Democratic primary, but certainly that is not possible for all future Democratic leaders (and is certainly the case for the current Democratic establishment) who are coming out of the woodwork after being inspired by Zohran’s win. If we can bridge the gap between new, progressive ideas and leaders, and the current establishment of the Democratic Party (and create a Democratic Party that is empathetic to change), we can energize a massive amount of voters behind leaders who actually provide hope for the future.

The Process?

What would this farm team look like? How do you prepare the next generation of Democratic leaders? We can make direct comparisons of preparing youth for party leadership to the current conservative circles. Conservative action groups, most notably Turning Point USA, hold annual summits for future youth leaders, giving them access to conservative leaders, opportunities to hone their leadership skills, and mentorship. Many prominent conservative leaders have risen out of similar mentorship systems, such as Charlie Kirk, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio.

If the Democratic Party can conduct a similar conference or youth leadership academy and summit, where Democratic leaders can mentor in jurisprudence, political strategy, and governance.

What would it look like?

I’d imagine the creation of a “farm team” would consist of finding a cohort of young, democratic, college-age members per year. Conceptually, it would make sense to apportion it with state populations; however, ideally, it would be consistently a delegate from each state. This mentorship conference should be designed to be impactful, personal, and supportive. If the cohort numbers are low, it keeps it clear which potential new leaders are up and coming. Younger, more progressive party members interacting directly with the establishment on what energizes them would not only connect the party with new ideas, but it could potentially act as a device for admission to a program such as this.

The Democratic Party should look for innovative progressive policies from everywhere. If the admission is based on valuable policy alternatives rather than alignment with the status quo Democratic Party platform, it would be massively beneficial in the non-discriminatory uplifting of young democratic leaders from all backgrounds, as well as inspire democratic policy to be more ambitious, creative, and most importantly, exciting.

This could potentially take place during the August recess in the Senate, which allows for prominent Democrats, party leadership, and effective leaders to participate in the summit. Further, if these students eventually run for public office, they would have some credibility preestablished within the party, which helps with endorsements and political support.

Why?

Democrats at this current moment as a party need to invest in new candidates as a way for the party to survive and thrive. As a party, we can no longer just wait for people like Barack Obama to come out of the woodwork; instead, the party needs to actively scout for new talent in order to keep the Democratic Party youthful, inspired, and competent.

If there is a lack of new talent, it only encourages the unqualified to run for prominent roles within the leadership of the party. If no one innovative wants to join the Democratic Party, Democrats will dwindle in numbers, become a stagnant and dogmatic party stuck in a dream of “politics as usual,” and will forever relinquish their power to those who outsmart them.