Post-2024, Democrats Call for New Leadership Beyond Obama-Era Influence
After Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign last year, she reached out to Jim Messina — the veteran strategist who helped steer Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election — to lead her White House bid.
But when Messina shared the offer with a close friend, he received a blunt warning.
“I told Jim, ‘If you take this, it’s political suicide,’” recalled Democratic megadonor John Morgan, a longtime critic of Harris. “You’re going to be a loser. And your whole brand is that you’re undefeated.”
Messina ultimately declined the role. In the wake of Harris’ loss to Donald Trump, the decision now looks prescient.
David Plouffe — once heralded as the mastermind behind Obama’s 2008 victory — did join the campaign. Now, he’s among those blamed for a staggering defeat.
“The shine’s off Plouffe now. He used to be the golden boy,” Morgan said. “Now he’s just an old, broken-down boy who lost. Big.”
Neither Messina nor Plouffe commented on the exchange.
While many Democrats still respect the legacy of Obama-era strategists, the sharp critiques reflect a shifting mood within a party searching for direction. Once revered as political sages, Obama’s team is now facing growing scrutiny.
At a recent press event, Democratic National Committee officials pointed fingers at Obama’s failure to invest in state parties during his presidency — a decision they say crippled local organizing efforts for years. The so-called Obama coalition — young voters, voters of color, and the less politically engaged — is fraying. In 2024, each of those groups shifted significantly toward Trump.
This could mark a turning point. For nearly two decades, the Democratic Party has followed a course shaped largely by Obama’s decisions — elevating Joe Biden, promoting Hillary Clinton, and empowering a tight circle of loyal operatives. But after a series of crushing losses, many in the party are ready to turn the page.
But after 2024, more Democrats are calling for change.
Obama remains a major figure in the party, still filling stadiums and commanding the attention of top donors. The DNC, according to two insiders, is in early talks with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to host Obama for a fundraiser at his home.
Yet even Obama’s star showed signs of dimming last fall—a trend likely to continue as younger voters, coming of age in the Trump era rather than the Obama era, become a larger part of the electorate. By the 2028 presidential election, two decades will have passed since Obama’s first win, and more voters will have matured politically during Trump’s time.
“One challenge the Democratic Party faces is nostalgia for the Obama era — both the man in the White House and the style of leadership and politics,” said Democratic strategist Mike Nellis. “Our politics have de-evolved over the past decade; it’s a very different era now.”
Intraparty criticism intensifies
Democrats cite many factors for Harris’ 2024 loss, with a key complaint centering on the compressed campaign timeline after Biden waited until just 107 days before the election to step aside. Plouffe explicitly blamed Biden in a recently published book, saying, “He totally f—ed us.”
Plouffe’s harsh words opened him and other Obama-era veterans to rebuke. DNC Finance Chair Chris Korge lashed out in an NBC News interview, calling the group “so-called gurus” and declaring, “It’s time to re-evaluate consultants and bring in new, forward-looking people. The old Obama playbook no longer works.”
Jane Kleeb, Nebraska Democratic Party chair and DNC vice chair, stressed the need to return to basics: investing in and listening to local organizers. She recalled how, during the Omaha mayoral race, Republicans targeted the Democratic candidate on transgender issues — and the party failed to adequately push back in 2024.
“This time, I knew exactly who to get in the room,” Kleeb said. “I didn’t call the Pod Save America guys or New York press firms. Our state party team gathered, brainstormed, and flipped the narrative.” They ran an ad contrasting Mayor Jean Stothert’s focus on “potties” with candidate John Ewing’s focus on fixing potholes. Ewing won by nearly 13 points.
“That message resonated,” Kleeb added. “State parties don’t care what political consultant camp you’re from. We want anyone who helps win.”
She urged the party to set aside factional fights over whose “camp” is best, saying, “I want everyone at the table. We need to trust the folks on the ground who know voters.”
Others echoed this call. Biden ally Steve Schale, who worked on Obama’s campaigns, defended Plouffe as “one of the sharpest guys around” who “has earned the right to stay engaged and share his insights.”
Meanwhile, Chuck Rocha, who worked on Sanders’ 2020 bid and various congressional campaigns, criticized the political consulting landscape as insular.
“Most of these same consultants lock in candidates before campaigns even launch,” Rocha said. “New blood rarely gets a seat at the table. It’s a closed cycle, and the players just regenerate. They’re all connected.”
In 2024, Biden-Harris campaign chief Jen O’Malley Dillon staffed key roles with Obama alumni: Stephanie Cutter helped run the Democratic convention and prepped Harris for media; Mitch Stewart oversaw battleground states; Rufus Gifford led fundraising. The list goes on.
Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist with experience on past presidential campaigns, called for a critical reassessment of the recurring group of operatives—including Obama campaign veterans—who have dominated national Democratic campaigns.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want a surgeon who keeps killing patients,” he said.
Some victories, Chris Kofinis noted, reflect the candidate’s strengths more than the operatives around them.
“It’s pretty easy to win with a guy like Obama,” Kofinis said, adding that Democrats often overvalue experience when hiring operatives instead of focusing on whether they’re truly effective.
Activist and DNC vice chair David Hogg drew a parallel between elected officials clinging to power and the party’s entrenched operative class.
He pointed to an anti-establishment energy that started with Obama’s rise and continues today—where candidates perceived as outsiders tend to resonate more than those pledging to maintain the status quo.
“It’s hard to imagine now, because Obama is such a major figurehead and seen as part of the system,” Hogg said. “But when he ran, I’d argue, he ran as an anti-establishment candidate.” Despite facing criticism for holding a DNC post while supporting primary challenges against incumbents, Hogg emphasized that aside from the unusual 2020 election, “we’re still in a moment where anti-system candidates will be favored.”
What’s next for Democrats
With many political operatives rooted in the Obama era still holding sway, Hogg sees a disconnect between party leadership and the younger voters the Democrats need to win in the future. Part of the challenge is that many of these young voters have little to no memory of Obama as president.
“I don’t think they really have one,” said Hogg, 25. “For many under 20, they grew up politically in the era of Donald Trump—where his presence was normalized and defined politics.”
Ammar Moussa, who worked on both the Biden and Harris campaigns, suggested that a natural generational shift is already underway. Many governors emerging as potential 2028 contenders bring their own long-term political teams, some cultivated far from Washington’s Democratic headquarters.
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