Former U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) called on the Democratic Party to modernize outreach efforts toward younger voters at a Georgetown University event Oct. 28.
Butler criticized Democrats’ disconnect with voters, shared her concerns regarding turnout in upcoming legislative elections and encouraged women to pursue careers in politics in conversation with Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The event was a collaboration between Georgetown’s Institute of Politics and Public Service, Georgetown University College Democrats (GUCD) and Georgetown’s women’s and gender studies program.
Butler said her biggest concern for the upcoming election cycle is voter turnout.
“What’s keeping me up at night is, will we see a return in turnout?” Butler said at the event. “It wasn’t that Donald Trump got more votes than last time. It was that more people stayed at home in 2024. From everything that I’ve heard from folks who are on the ground doing work, that they’re seeing a renewed energy. I do hope that we see a surge in turnout, particularly amongst young voters.”
Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Butler to her seat in October 2023, just days after then-incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) died. Prior to her term, Butler was the president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2015, California’s largest labor union. Butler currently serves as the president of EMILYs List, a political action committee that aims to elect Democratic female candidates.
Butler said she believes voters are growing disillusioned with the party because its leaders do not feel genuine.
“I think that we have an authenticity problem,” Butler said. “I don’t mean this in a pejorative way, but I think the characters that get displayed as the leaders of the Democratic Party just are clearly seen as performers in a lot of ways. I know a lot of these people, I know their hearts, I know they are well-intended and I know that there’s a lot of energy and effort that they put into leading a party. But when you put in all of your energy and effort and nobody believes you, sometimes energy and effort ain’t enough.”
Brazile, who served as interim DNC chair during 2011 and from 2016 to 2017 and currently works as an ABC News contributor, said this disconnect was apparent in the party’s failure to reach voters in 2024.
“Trump was everywhere, and people heard him,” Brazile said at the event. “We were back to putting information on traditional news channels and traditional media, and they were in podcasting. They were talking to everybody, everybody. Trump was 24/7. So I think we made some honest to God mistakes.”
“We are paying a huge price for losing, but it was a failure to communicate, to listen and to really understand that we had to talk to young men, young people and others in ways that they understood,” Brazile added.
Roan Bedoian (CAS ’28), GUCD’s speakers department director who helped organize the event, said the event aimed to analyze the current path of the Democratic Party.
“There’s this question of where is the party going from here?” Bedoian told The Hoya. “Have we lost the working class? Have we lost voters of color? And so we wanted to address that because there was that interest from our club since the election and we felt like this was a great opportunity.”
“I was thinking it’d be great to bring the two of them together, especially because they are both predominant Black women in American politics and right now the Democratic Party is just not doing a good enough job with diversity,” Bedoian added.
Butler said elected positions are not the only way to serve in government and encouraged students to pursue public service.
“There are other ways to serve. If you have a calling to be a communications professional or a speech writer, do that in public service or in politics,” Butler said. “Don’t just fall into what exists. Create what you want, utilize your superpower and be authentic to who you are.”
