Democratic operative announces party exit after volunteering at DNC : 'Impossible to unsee what I've seen'
By: Yael Halon (Fox News)
You know it's serious when the Democratic Party begins losing fundraisers.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
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A Democratic campaign operative revealed that she is exiting the party after volunteering at last month's Democratic National Convention, which left her "disenchanted" with Democratic leadership.
In a Newsweek op-ed published Tuesday, Evan Barker described how she went from raising "tens of millions of dollars" for Democrats to distancing herself from a party she now believes is "totally out of touch" with everyday Americans.
Barker said she was initially "thrilled" to volunteer at the DNC, where Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the nomination for president.
"But once there, wandering amidst the glitz and glam, imbibing the gloss and schmaltz of it all, I couldn't escape a sinking feeling. I felt submersed in a hollow chamber whose mottos were 'Brat summer' and 'Joy'—totally out of touch with regular, every-day Americans and their pressing needs; instead, the most elite people in the world chanted in unison that "We're not going back," Barker wrote.
"I found myself feeling disenchanted, lost, sad, and alone. As someone who has given her life to Democratic politics, it was devastating. But if I'm being honest, it wasn't totally surprising," she continued.
Barker said she was raised in a family of blue-collar union Democrats near Kansas City, a "long ways away from the glitz, glamor, and ostentatious wealth I'd become accustomed to seeing in and around Democratic politics."
"Fast forward to today, and many of those same family members are no longer Democrats. They feel the party has changed, left them behind," she wrote. "At the DNC, I couldn't help but think about my family. Every time the elites chanted 'We're not going back,' what I heard was, 'We're not going back to the party your union family members used to vote for.'"
Barker's dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party had been building over time, she wrote, but the convention was the final straw.
"When I went to the DNC last month, I was truly hoping to be re-inspired, to feel the same love for the party I felt as a teenager when I pounded the pavement for Barack Obama. I can still recall the immense joy I felt after he won, running into the street with hundreds of other people to dance to 'Thriller,'" she wrote. "But instead of giving me back that feeling, the DNC was where it finally hit me: It's impossible to unsee what I've seen. I can only go forward."
As a Democratic fundraising consultant for Senate and House candidates, she was exposed to the inner workings of campaigning where she learned the art of coddling high profile donors for a hefty check, trading money for influence in government, Barker said.
"Here's the thing about donors: They have niche policy issues they care about that seldom reflect the needs of people back home. Democrats love to decry money in politics when it comes to the Koch brothers or Elon Musk, but the billionaires who support Democrats are given a total pass and have a huge influence over policy.
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"At first, I naively thought the system was broken. But now I realize, it isn't broken; it's doing what it was designed to do, which is to keep working-class people from true representation. That is the point, a feature, not a bug," she continued.
She said that while the GOP is likely guilty of the same, "Democrats are bigger hypocrites about it."
"Perhaps the most shocking of all is how the Democrats have embraced Bush-era foreign policy to become the party of war. Instead of rebuilding the working class communities that have been hit hardest by their neoliberal trade policies, they've spent $175 billion funding the war in Ukraine," Barker wrote. "It was the cherry on the cake that Vice President Kamala Harris has been proudly touting an endorsement from Dick Cheney. Dick Cheney!"
"Here's the sad truth: The Democratic Party has lost its way entirely. They mostly speak to the college educated, the urban and affluent, in their language. Their tone is condescending and paternalistic," she concluded. "They peddle giveaways to the college-educated like student loan forgiveness plans that disproportionately help their base, snubbing the majority of the country without a four-year degree, and then offer no tangible plans for true reform."
Neither the DNC nor the Harris campaign responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to yael.halon@fox.com.
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The lifeblood of the Democratic Party depends upon fixers, influence peddlers, and fundraisers. If these are the people becoming disillusioned with Democrats then the rot runs pretty deep within the party.