Democrats are at risk of being rudderless at the start of the new year, with a fading President Joe Biden soon to leave the White House and the Democratic National Committee‘s elections not until February.

While some Democrats are confident the party will come together again after a disappointing election, others are concerned few lessons have been learned.

For Democrats such as strategist Stefan Hankin, the party needs a “refresh,” a “rebrand,” and “new faces out there.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is a “good start,” according to Hankin, but he encouraged outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who will be Senate minority leader when the new 119th Congress starts on Jan. 3, to do what former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) did and step down.

But Pelosi’s endorsement of and advocacy for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) to be the lead Democrat on the House Oversight Committee over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has Hankin asking whether the party learned “any lessons” from last year, one in which Biden was pressured into standing down as the Democratic presidential nominee the summer before the election because of his dismal debate performance against President-elect Donald Trump amid concerns about his age and mental acuity. That meant there was no time for a competitive primary for his replacement, and Vice President Kamala Harris had to run the shortest campaign in recent history.

“It’s not like Schumer has to leave the Senate, but we just need a new look, so it’s not just feeling like the same old, same old,” Hankin told the Washington Examiner.

To that end, more Democrats are announcing their candidacy for the DNC’s leadership elections, which will be held on Feb. 1. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, and author Marianne Williamson are among the candidates. At the same time, a couple of lawmakers have pushed older counterparts out of committee leadership positions. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), 62, ousted House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerry Nadler (D-NY), 77. Retiring Rep. Annie Kuster (D-NH), 65, has also implored members of Congress to reconsider their own plans in an exit interview published last month.

“I’m trying to set a better example,” Kuster told the Boston Globe. “I think there are colleagues — and some of whom are still very successful and very productive — but others who just stay forever.”

For Hankin, the strategist, Democrats have to come to terms with how the party’s nominee “lost for the second time to a totally unqualified wannabe dictator.”

“People agree with us on the issues, but clearly they don’t like us,” he said. “We’re not giving them why, or the vibe, or that North Star, whatever the hell phrase you want to put in there. There is no ‘this is what Democrats are.’ I understand it’s a little tougher. It’s a faction party. There are lots of different groups, but we’ve got to figure out a way to work that and get it done in a way that there is room and a comfort level for the more liberal, urban, college-educated person, black voters, Hispanic voters, younger voters, Midwest voters.”

Iowa Democratic official Charlie Comfort, an at-large member of the Oskaloosa City Council and vice president of its school board, agreed that Democrats have to “figure out” how to make the party “more palatable” to rural America.

“I am watching and living in an area that used to have tons of representation at the local level by Democrats, but now, good local politicians are losing simply because they have the ‘Democrat’ label,” Comfort told the Washington Examiner. “The party has to stop trying to turn out just the urban and suburban vote, and truly figure out why rural America fled the Democrats like rats from a sinking ship.”

Another Democratic strategist, Californian Garry South, predicted the party would become more dependent on its governors, many of whom are positioning themselves for a now-open 2028 presidential primary.

“My own sense of it is that Democrats really need governors to step up and take the lead in this era of Trump recycled,” South told the Washington Examiner. “After all, every governor is a little president of their own state, with executive and governing power, and we Democrats have some attractive and dynamic governors, including Gavin Newsom here in California.”

Other governors frequently touted by Democrats include Govs. Andy Beshear (D-KY), Roy Cooper (D-NC), Wes Moore (D-MD), J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), Josh Shapiro (D-PA), and Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI).

South added, “Senators are important, too, but unless they’ve also been a governor, they have no experience in running anything — except on and on in long-winded floor speeches.”

A Senate Democratic aide, who was provided anonymity to speak candidly, defended the Democrats’ new leadership team in the chamber, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) as chairwoman of the conference’s steering and policy committee, its No. 3 position, and Cory Booker (D-NJ) as chairman of the strategic communications committee, the No. 4 spot. Schumer and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) will remain in their roles, but in the minority when Republicans regain control.

“As well, there are a whole bunch of new ranking Democratic members who will be working on new messages in their committees’ jurisdictions,” the source told the Washington Examiner. “But perhaps most importantly, a congressional party tends to find its voice and be defined in relation to the opposite party — and Leader Jeffries did a good job doing that [during last month’s federal government funding negotiations].”

Jeffries, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA), and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA) will similarly reprise their positions in the new year. Democrats in the last Congress voted against House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) attempts to satisfy Trump’s demands to address the debt ceiling in legislation to keep the federal government open past its Dec. 20 funding deadline. Trump’s last-minute request prevented the passage of a previously negotiated bipartisan deal, with Biden eventually signing a compromise agreement.

It is that dynamic between Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill that Democrats are hoping to leverage and use to their advantage in 2025, particularly, in the words of Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn, if they can demonstrate that “they are serious about governing.”

“I’m less concerned about the extremes the media loves to focus on and more focused on the 25 or so swing House seats and how those candidates reclaim the support of working-class voters who have been steadily leaving the party,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner. “Some of those voters are already starting to show some buyer’s remorse, and I would be a little surprised if they allow a GOP trifecta to continue past the midterms.” 

Hankin concurred Democrats’ best strategy may be doing very little considering the party has “very little ability to do much” other than to let Republicans “make all the mistakes and create the circular firing squad.”

“I would wrap everything around this: [billionaire tech entrepreneur and co-chairman of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon] Musk is calling the shots slash Trump is just trying to line the pockets of him and his family for the next four years,” he said. “It has nothing to do with helping people, has nothing to do with helping the country, and just paint everything in that picture.”