Democrats Are Missing Political Layups And Dooming Us All
The Intercept Briefing
The Intercept
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 August 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Democratic Party has lost millions of voters since 2020, according to new analysis from the New York Times. Meanwhile, Republicans are gaining ground, even in traditional blue states, as more voters register with the GOP.
“We're missing layups on the basics right now,” says longtime Democratic strategist Nina Smith, alarmed by the news. “We're losing on voter registration in 30 states — the only 30 states that track voter registration between parties. We're losing in every single one.”
This week on The Intercept Briefing, Smith, a former senior adviser to Stacey Abrams with more than two decades in Democratic politics, joined host Jessica Washington to explain why the party keeps failing at the fundamentals — like voter registration, building the base, and party infrastructure — while Donald Trump consolidates power despite record-high disapproval ratings.
“Voter registration is like the layup of Democratic basketball politics,” says Smith. “How do we expect to win elections if we're not registering voters who are committed to us on our issues?”
Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
You can support our work at theintercept.com/join. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Intercept Briefing. I'm Jessica Washington. |
| 0:08.8 | The Democratic Party has shed millions of voters between the 2020 and 2024 elections, |
| 0:14.7 | according to new analysis from the New York Times. |
| 0:17.4 | At the same time, Republicans have gained ground, even in traditional blue states, as an increasing |
| 0:22.5 | number have registered with the GOP. President Donald Trump's disapproval ratings are at record |
| 0:27.4 | highs, yet many Democrats still describe their own party as weak or ineffective. |
| 0:32.9 | And as Trump works to consolidate power, Democrats remain divided on how to respond. |
| 0:38.6 | In recent weeks, California Governor Gavin Newsom has emerged as one of the few Democrats |
| 0:43.6 | openly confronting Trump head on. |
| 0:46.0 | We're here because Donald Trump, on January 6th, try to light democracy on fire. |
| 0:52.2 | And here he is, once again again trying to rig the system. |
| 0:55.4 | He doesn't play by a different set of rules. |
| 0:57.4 | He doesn't believe in the rules. |
| 1:00.0 | Trump, meanwhile, continues to openly embrace gerrymandering as a strategy to maintain |
| 1:04.5 | Republican dominance. |
| 1:05.7 | California's gerrymandered. |
| 1:07.6 | We should have many more seats in Congress in California. |
| 1:10.4 | It's all gerrymandered. |
| 1:11.6 | And we have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. |
| 1:14.6 | We have a really good governor and we have good people in Texas. |
| 1:17.6 | And I won Texas. |
| 1:18.6 | I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Intercept, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Intercept and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.