new york<u+2014>shaken by the election results , democrats are pointing to hillary clinton <u+2019>s defeat in the presidential race as a repudiation of the party<u+2019>s message, candidates and reliance on high-dollar donations. the fragile alliance forged out of necessity as the democrats<u+2019> liberal and centrist wings sought to defeat republican donald trump, now the president-elect, began unraveling wednesday now that the general election has come and gone, touching off a fight for the party<u+2019>s identity and future direction. democrats came into the election season as the odds-on favorites to hold the white house and regain control of the senate. they missed both targets. surveying the wreckage, democratic leaders, officeholders and donors said wednesday the party needs to recruit younger candidates and address the anxieties of working-class voters who flocked to mr. trump<u+2019>s candidacy <u+2014>or face recurring losses. alan kessler, a longtime democratic fundraiser said he attended a private party tuesday night for clinton donors as the returns came in. looking around the room, he realized most people were in their 60s. <u+201c>the party has got to get younger,<u+201d> mr. kessler said. <u+201c>it has to make it apparent to young people they are absolutely welcome and their ideas are welcome.<u+201d> beyond president barack obama, whose 2008 run for the white house at the age of 47 inspired throngs of young voters, the three top leaders of the democratic party until tuesday were: house minority leader nancy pelosi and senate minority leader harry reid, both 76 years old; and mrs. clinton, 69. tensions within the party flared during the primaries, when vermont sen. bernie sanders, an improbable 75-year-old darling of the liberal wing, sought to wrest the nomination from the mainstream candidate, mrs. clinton . the former secretary of state prevailed, but sanders supporters warned she would struggle against mr. trump and his unscripted populist messages aimed largely at middle-class anxieties. they see the results as vindication of an argument they made at the time: the party must put forward fresh candidates with a bolder vision that addresses core economic concerns if it hopes to remain competitive in presidential races. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ll either be successful at taking over the party or we will abandon the party and it will die,<u+201d> said jonathan tasini, a sanders delegate at the democratic convention in philadelphia in july. <u+201c>it will lose its energy and progressive activism. it will become a shell of itself.<u+201d> rep. raul grijalva (d., ariz.), co-chair of the congressional progressive caucus, said the party has been employing the same <u+201c>strategy and methods<u+201d> for years. he said the approach boils down to: <u+201c>raise a lot of money, keep recycling the same consultants and pollsters and strategies, and we<u+2019>ll be ok. well, we<u+2019>re not ok.<u+201d> the party<u+2019>s difficulty in winning over white, working-class voters was evident at clinton rallies held by building-trades labor unions, whose members are roughly split between democrats and republicans. some union leaders said they had greater success persuading members to vote for mr. obama<u+2019>s re-election in 2012 than mrs. clinton this year. their pitch laid out the practical reasons to support mrs. clinton<u+2014>such as her plan to invest in infrastructure, which would bring jobs to union members<u+2014>rather than seeking to gin up passion on the nominee<u+2019>s behalf. dave wondolowski, executive secretary of the cleveland building & construction trades council who last month urged union members to back mrs. clinton at a rally sponsored by the union super pac hard hats for hillary, said tuesday<u+2019>s outcome showed the democratic party platform was <u+201c>out of touch with what our base is looking for.<u+201d> some democrats grumbled that their issue wasn<u+2019>t so much age as it was a failure by mrs. clinton to connect with middle-class voters. vice president joe biden, who decided not to seek the party<u+2019>s nomination due to family reasons last year, excels at connecting with such voters by spinning tales about growing up in his own working-class family<u+2014>and he<u+2019>s 73 years old. wade randlett, a democratic fundraiser, said that if democrats want to win swings states such as ohio and pennsylvania with large swaths of white, working-class voters, <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not wait for the voters to change<u+2014>it<u+2019>s change the message with a new messenger.<u+201d> a fight about leadership of the democratic national committee could set the party on a fresh course. hacked emails released by wikileaks showed that dnc aides under former chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz were working to undermine mr. sanders<u+2019>s campaign in hopes of boosting mrs. clinton<u+2019>s chances in the primary. the disclosures enraged the party<u+2019>s liberal wing. under fire, ms. wasserman schultz ended her five-year tenure in july. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s loss leaves a power vacuum. already, liberal groups are eyeing the dnc chairman race as a vehicle to give the party a more progressive tilt. charles chamberlain, the executive director of the group democracy for america, named minnesota rep. keith ellison, a 53-year-old muslim-american<u+2014>as a strong candidate who would excite grass roots activists. <u+201c>i think he could be potentially an absolutely fantastic chair,<u+201d> mr. chamberlain said. write to rebecca ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com
democrats seek a fresh, more inclusive approach - wsj
rebecca ballhaus