Former White House staffer and actor Kal Penn on Friday offered a scathing critique of the Democratic Party’s post-2024 performance, accusing the party of refusing to reckon with its failures and disconnect from working-class voters.
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Speaking with Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group during an Express Adda in Mumbai, Penn said: “They haven’t done a true look at what went wrong…the DNC was doing testing of everything except what the candidates themselves had done wrong and it’s in some ways a no brainer — I will bring this back to Zohran as it’s most recent — a Democratic Socialist to win nomination for democratic party for Mayor of New York City with a huge coalition.”
Penn pointed to the example of New York City Councilmember Zohran Mamdani, who recently won the Democratic nomination for Mayor. According to Penn, Mamdani’s campaign demonstrated how progressive candidates could successfully connect with a diverse electorate — something the national Democratic leadership has failed to do, he said.
“He won 67 per cent of Jewish voters under the age of 45, he won a huge number of South Indian voters across religion and economics, he won every demographic of White voters. So all of the things that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden struggled with, you’ve got a Zohran Mamdani who won in New York City — and New York City and New York went for Trump with double digits over the previous election (US Presidential election).”
Penn argued that the Democratic loss in New York wasn’t a sign of voters becoming more conservative, but a reaction to the party’s failure to address economic pain.
“And it’s not because people suddenly decided that they were conservative. It’s because they looked at who is offering a solution for the fact that groceries are too expensive and I can’t afford to live in the city that I love, and they didn’t see Democrats offering anything and they saw Trump offering a version of the plan that he has obviously since abandoned.”
The problem, Penn continued, was not just the messaging, but the policies themselves.
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“Democrats are pointing fingers at everybody except themselves…You need to offer people a plan for what’s affecting their real lives, not just the messaging but policy was also wrong.”
Penn, who previously served in the Obama administration as an associate director in the White House Office of Public Engagement, is widely recognised for his roles in films like Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, and The Namesake and TV shows such as House and Designated Survivor.
The Express Adda is a series of informal interactions organised by The Indian Express Group. Previous guests at the Adda include Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, philanthropist Bill Gates and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
