SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Four people are running to become the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, seeking to take on the task of reinvigorating a party. demoralized by a second defeat against the elected president Donald Trump.

Others could still jump into the race as the party looks to the 2024 election, which saw Trump win with nearly every demographic in a decisive rejection of the incumbent party. The committee has approximately 450 members will elect a successor for outgoing president Jaime Harrison February 1st.

The four declared candidates spoke this week with The Associated Press in Scottsdale, Ariz., where they made their pitches publicly and privately at a meeting Democratic state presidents. Here is a sample of their responses.

Should Joe Biden have given up sooner?

The 82-year-old holder was critical for seeking re-election when many Americans were concerned about his age, and he was accused of not giving Vice President Kamala Harris enough time to distinguish herself from Trump.

KEN MARTIN, Minnesota Democratic Chairman and DNC Vice Chairman: “For me, this is an academic exercise. You can’t change the past. So for us, it’s really about what lessons can we learn now that can inform the future.

MARTIN O’MALLEY, former Maryland governor and Social Security administrator: “I don’t know. You play this DC board game with me, I’m not going to play it. Sorry.”

JAMES SKUFIS, New York State Senator: “Yes. A 107-day trail resulted in exceptionally difficult circumstances. And it was clear to most Democrats at the time that President Biden was not well positioned to run for office. And if dropping out early would have meant a primary, so be it. Vice President Harris, I’m sure, probably would have been the nominee if there had been a primary. She would have been a stronger candidate with this longer runway.

BEN WIKLER, Chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party: “My campaign slogan is ‘unite, fight, win.’ And for me, coming together means considering how we can adapt to do better, but not recriminations about different things from the past. So my goal is to learn whatever lessons we can apply over the next four years and beyond to build new capabilities that will allow us to learn the lessons that were out of reach in 2024 and in recent years.

Did Kamala Harris Spend Too Much Time With Liz Cheney and Courting Republican Votes?

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and other progressives supported Before And After On Election Day, Harris should have focused more on working-class voters and less on Republicans and right-wing voters unhappy with Trump.

MARTIN: “Are there things we can learn from the election? Of course. We’ll have to dig into all of this. One thing I would say is important is we need to make sure we’re competitive across the board and that we’re talking to all voters. And I’m not suggesting that we spend a lot of time talking to Republican voters, don’t get me wrong. But we need to make sure that we step out of our comfort zone and our base and try to really play a meaningful role in support of independent voters.

O’MALLEY: “I don’t know. That’s another board game story and I’m not going to question that. The one thing I know for sure, from everyone I’ve spoken with across the country, is that there is a fairly widespread belief that Americans’ primary concern in this election was economic anxiety about the future. Fear of the future. Fear that their own work won’t be enough to keep their heads above water. And we have failed to address their economic concerns.

SKOUFIS: “I think it was absolutely the right thing to spend time and go after Liz Cheney and other Republicans, disgruntled former Trump administration officials. It was absolutely the right thing to do. And similarly, we definitely need to do more to rebuild the frayed edges of our tent on the left. They are not mutually exclusive.

WIKLER: “I live in a state where the suburban counties visited by Liz Cheney and Kamala Harris actually increased the Democratic vote share compared to 2020. Harris did better in the (Milwaukee suburban) counties than Biden in the 2020 election. And I think there were traditionally Republican voters who made their decision at the last second and saw that Republicans like them could vote for a Democrat this year. At the same time, there are a ton of working class people who haven’t heard our message and who we need to find more ways to reach, and who often don’t rely on knowing political figures who play an important role in the cable. current affairs but are not present in people’s lives. And figuring out how to reach those people, I think, is the next big challenge that we need to build on.

How do Democrats do better with Latino voters, especially Latino men?

While Harris won over Latino voters overall, Trump did major breakthroughs with Hispanic votersespecially men, according to AP VoteCast data.

MARTIN: “Every hot take we see right now is completely disgusting. It’s just rubbish because it’s not based on any research. We don’t know how much ad spending was spent targeting the Latino male. We do not know what the awareness and field programs were. We don’t know which universes we targeted and how we spoke to the Latino community. What were the treatments applied to these universes? All these pieces, right? What organizations were responsible for mobilizing and mobilizing the Latino community, particularly Latino men? All of this needs to be brought to the table to truly understand: what did we do, where were the gaps, how did we fall? And then you can apply the prescription.

O’MALLEY: “This may sound like a broken record, but I really believe it’s the economic problems. It’s union jobs, decent wages, opportunities for all…. Too many people heard ‘defend America, defend democracy’ and thought that meant defend the status quo.”

SKOUFIS: “I think it shows. We need to stop speaking in overly academic terms. Sometimes young voters look at us especially and think we would be better off running for chancellor of a small liberal arts college than running for public office.”

WIKLER: “Most Latino voters, most black voters, most white voters are working class people who have a lot of issues that they care about. But all of these questions take a backseat to the central question of whether you can keep a roof over your head and food on your table and make sure your kids have clothes to wear to school . What Democrats have the opportunity to do is show that we are on the side of working people.”

Would you support reinstating Iowa and New Hampshire as early states in 2028?

The DNC at Biden’s request made in South Carolina the first primary state this year, angering New Hampshire Democrats who moved forward with their primary anyway.

MARTIN: “What I think is important is to make sure that this process is open and transparent, that all states that want to have the opportunity to be considered and that ultimately the final product , whatever schedule we propose, not only reflects the great diversity of this country and honors some of the traditions of our Democratic Party, but it also, more importantly, puts us in a position to win through a rigorous and rigorous process. effective which tests our candidate.

O’MALLEY: “This will be a decision that the DNC must make in an open and transparent process. Period.”

SKOUFIS: “I’m willing to bet I’m the only DNC presidential candidate who will give you a simple answer on this. Whether people like the change or not, South Carolina has found itself in first place in the presidential nomination races. I believe they deserve to have at least a first chance in a competitive primary. Dean Phillips against Joe Biden was not a serious primary. So I think they deserve the chance to participate in an open and serious primary, which will certainly take place in 2028. Only then can we evaluate how it went and whether we need to reevaluate the order of things.”

WIKLER: “My view is that the nomination calendar should serve the purpose of finding the candidate who is going to win the general election. And we do it through a process that honors our coalition, that honors our traditions, and gives each candidate a chance to be heard and make their case to become the next candidate.