Brazile: Biggest challenge facing Democrats is recapturing young Black, Latino voters

Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Donna Brazile said the biggest challenge facing Democrats in 2024 is capturing young Black and Latino voters as the party prepares for a potential rematch between President Biden and former President Trump. 

“The biggest challenge we face as Democrats — I say ‘we’ because I’m a Democrat — is that young voters, young Black and Latino voters, they’re not ready to come back to the party,” Brazile said Sunday in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. 

When asked about a recent poll from The Wall Street Journal showing Trump’s expanding lead in the 2024 GOP field despite his mounting legal woes, Brazile said the poll’s findings “could keep her up at night” and pointed to the difficulties with young voter engagement.

While maintaining young voters are worried about their future, Brazile noted young voters are not looking at “the so-called messaging” about the economy, climate change or student debt relief. 

“Right now, they’re looking for a leader who represents their values and their vision,” Brazile said. “And I think the president’s campaign is going to have to really, you know, go deep and do hard to motivate these voters to come back within the Democratic Party coalition. Because without them, it is a tight race and it’s going to come down to four states.” 

Brazile’s comments come amid recent concerns over the Democratic Party’s ability to engage with young voters. A recent analysis from John Della Volpe, the polling director at the Harvard Kennedy Institute of Politics, pointed to the Democratic Party’s challenges with voters between 18 and 29. 

“Nearly every sign that made me confident in historic levels of youth participation in 2018, 2020, and 2022 — is now flashing red,” Della Volpe wrote in his analysis of 2024, adding “the ground is more fertile for voting when youth believe voting makes a tangible difference.”

Cheyenne Hunt, a 25-year-old Democrat and Tik Tok influencer who is running to be the first female Generation Z member of Congress, told The Hill earlier this month that Gen Z has less of a sense of loyalty to a particular party, having felt let down by the political system.

Hunt said this letdown has led Gen Z to more political mobilization and less affiliation with established parties.