Election Day Reckoning: The Internal Struggle That Awaits the Losing Party

The Republican and Democratic parties are both facing a crossroads in Tuesday’s election, which is likely to determine the direction each takes over the next few years.

If former President Trump defeats Vice President Harris, he would secure the transformation of the GOP from the protrade, proimmigration and globalist party that former President Reagan epitomized in the 1980s to the populist, protariff, anti-immigration and America First movement it is today.

If Harris wins, she would extend and expand upon the policies of the Biden-Harris administration and continue the Democratic Party’s shift toward appealing primarily to women, Black, Latino and college-educated voters.

Whichever party loses the White House — the biggest prize of Nov. 5 — and is relegated to the minority in one or both chambers of Congress will find itself in turmoil over where to go next, opening the door for internal critics to call for radical change.

“For both parties, this is a crossroads. We’ll have to see what rises out of the ashes of this election,” said Democratic strategist Tad Devine, who witnessed firsthand the soul-searching that consumed the Democratic Party after it lost the 1984 and 1988 presidential elections.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for the Democratic Party. The opportunity would be to become the mainstream political party in America. I think that opportunity will present itself because the Trump faction of the Republican Party will no longer be in power at the executive level, and I thin…  k the people who emulate him in the congressional races and the local races, they’re going to be discredited,” he said. “The regulars within the Republican Party are going to say, ‘We’ve lost enough with this guy.’”

Republican strategists agree that if Trump loses it will spark a scramble for power in their party, opening the way for traditional establishment Republicans, such as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and his allies, to shift the party back in the direction of Reagan and former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

“One would think that JD Vance would try to assume control over the Republican Party based on his vice presidential candidate stardom,” said Republican strategist Ron Bonjean,referring Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate.