(NewsNation) — Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., is critical of his party and the role it played in losing the 2024 election.
“We need to look ourselves in the mirror as Democrats and ask, ‘How do we reconnect with the majority of American voters?'” Moulton said Wednesday on “CUOMO.” “We’ve clearly lost touch.”
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Moulton was recently quoted in a story from The New York Times about Democratic finger-pointing after Vice President Harris lost the 2024 election, saying his party had leaned too heavily into identity politics, forging a path for President-elect Trump and Republicans to a decisive victory.
He has faced backlash from his party, with Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair Steve Kerrigan, for example, telling the Boston Globe that Moulton’s comments “do not represent the broad view of our party.”
Moulton responded to backlash about his transgender athlete comments, saying the response to them proves his point.
“I was just speaking authentically as a dad about one of many issues where I think we’re just out of touch with the majority of voters, and I stand by my position,” Moulton said during an MSNBC appearance. “The backlash I’ve received proves my point that we can’t even have these discussions as a party.”
Moulton told “CUOMO” that if his party doesn’t “come up with a new strategy, a winning strategy going forward, then we’re never gonna be able to stop Trump.”
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Moulton doesn’t oppose transgender rights, but says the party has been too focused on that cause and similar social issues. He was first elected to Congress in 2015 and is a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus. The caucus promotes LGBTQ equality in the House and has strongly opposed efforts to bar trans athletes from sports teams that best align with their gender identity. His 2024 reelection campaign was endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.
Twice in the past, Moulton co-sponsored House Democrats’ Transgender Bill of Rights, which included protections for transgender athletes to participate on sports teams that match their gender identity. Even last spring, Moulton voted against passing a Republican-backed bill to bar transgender student-athletes from sports.
NewsNation affiliate “The Hill” contributed to this report.