Are Democrats Headed for “Train Wreck” in 2026?

The Democrat Party remains without a clear leader just under one full year since the presidential election and just over one year out from next year’s midterms. The lack of a captain to steer the ship means the loudest and most theatrical progressive left-wing voices are increasingly claiming the spotlight – bad news for liberals hoping 2026 won’t look like 2024.

In the power vacuum left by former President Joe Biden’s early exit from the race last year and former Vice President Kamala Harris’s disastrous campaign, it’s figures like New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, “Squad” leader Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders who have sucked up all the oxygen in the room. Congressional leaders like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, meanwhile, have faced extensive criticism from liberal allies over their leadership failures, as previously reported by AMAC Newsline.

Democrats are even still divided over Biden’s candidacy last year, with an ongoing civil war between former members of Biden’s and Harris’s teams. CNN host Jake Tapper’s book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which came out earlier this year, ignited a firestorm of finger-pointing on the left about who was really to blame for the 2024 debacle.

That divide could get even deeper following the release of Harris’s new memoir, 107 Days, next month. Deeply sourced and well-respected political journalist Mark Halperin recently told conservative commentator Sean Spicer that Biden and Harris are on a “collision course” that the book could accelerate.

He also said he has learned that Biden aides are “prepared to release unflattering stories about their efforts to prepare former Vice President Kamala Harris for a potential run if she comes after him,” according to Fox News. The tension and leadership vacuum mean the Democrat Party is headed toward a “train wreck” in the midterms, Halperin said.

Even Harris herself has tacitly acknowledged that there is no real leader of the party. “There’s lots of leaders,” Harris told now-fired CBS talk show host Stephen Colbert earlier this month. But as Colbert quickly retorted, “There’s generally a leader.” As any businessman knows, when everyone is in charge, no one is in charge.

The lack of leadership means loud voices who can get in front of a camera are likely to attract the most attention and hurt any chances the Democrat Party has of mounting a unified campaign next year. And Democrats indeed have plenty of loud voices who have embarrassed both themselves and the party while trying to become the next Barack Obama.

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), for instance, recently caused a fuss on the Senate floor, ranting during a debate on bipartisan legislation to increase police funding. Referring to Trump, Booker criticized his colleagues for “complicity with an authoritarian leader who is trashing our country,” according to the Washington Free Beacon. This upset even avowed progressive Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who said Booker should have brought up his objections during committee meetings. Booker also recently made headlines for breaking the Senate’s filibuster record – an effort which he quickly fundraised off of and secured a book deal from.

Meanwhile, over in the House, Rep. Jasmine Crockett has done her best to carve out her own profile as a Democrat leader. Crockett is famous for expletive-laden tirades during committee hearings and has billed herself as a top voice of the anti-Trump liberal “resistance.”

But there’s just one problem – none of Crockett’s Democrat compatriots, or even her own staffers, seems to like her.

As the Washington Free Beacon recently reported, during research for a profile story in The Atlantic, journalist Elaine Godfrey found that “33 House Democrats she contacted for the story ‘either declined to talk with me on the record or didn’t respond to my interview requests.’” Crockett’s staffers have labeled her a “diva” and accused her of creating a toxic work environment.

The emergence of self-avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani in New York City has further strained the Democrat Party, in this case along socioeconomic lines. Mamdani notably said in June after winning the nomination that “I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality, and ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country.” (This comment, of course, comes despite the fact that Mamdani himself had a rather posh upbringing and was recently caught vacationing at his family’s “compound” in Uganda, where he was protected by armed guards.)

That has put Mamdani into contention with some of his fellow Democrats, including Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, who is worth $3.7 billion. Asked about Mamdani, Pritzker said, “How much money you have doesn’t determine what your values are, and I’m a Democrat because I believe that everyone deserves health care.”

Meanwhile, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) – both worth several million dollars in their own right – have rallied around Mamdani’s candidacy, further exposing this fissure in the Democrat Party. Just this week, House Republicans launched a scathing ad tying Mamdani to 25 vulnerable House Democrats in swing districts.

Historically, the opposition party does well in midterm elections, and Republicans’ razor-thin margin in the House means liberals should have a good shot of winning at least the lower chamber. But Democrats’ success will likely hinge on advancing a unified message. If they can’t find one, Republicans may defy history, and Democrats may sink even further into the political doldrums.

Matt Lamb is a contributor for AMAC Newsline and an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.