Democrats round on congressman who criticised party’s trans policy

Democrats have rounded on Seth Moulton, the congressman who criticised the party's trans policies in the wake of the election.

Mr Moulton, a centrist from Massachusetts faced a backlash for his criticism of the party's emphasis on trans issues in a series of interviews.

Last week the congressman told The Telegraph : "We can't even have discussions about contentious issues like this, because anyone who disagrees with the Left-related Democratic orthodoxy just gets shut down."

Mr Moulton's campaign manager quit and he was rebuked by the Democratic governor of Massachusetts. One local councillor called on the congressman to resign and opponents planned to picket his office.

As part of the Democrats' wider election post-mortem, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the party for listening to the "donor class" rather than working people.

The Left-wing congresswoman, who won re-election in her New York district with a reduced majority, said: "There is a disease in Washington of Democrats who spend more time listening to the donor class than working people."

"If you want to know the seed of the party's political crisis, that's it."

Spat over DNC chairman The latest spat was triggered by suggestions that Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and Obama ally, should become the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

He already has the support of David Axelrod, one of the party's most experienced strategists.

"He is the most skilful, political kind of infighter in the Democratic Party. He's been a member of Congress, he's been White House chief of staff, he's been the mayor of Chicago," Mr Axelrod said on his "Hacks on Tap" podcast.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Left-wing "Squad" in the House of Representatives, gave the idea short shrift on X, formerly Twitter.

"A lot of people want to bring back Obama-era insiders for party building purposes. While those folks ran successful presidential campaigns, they also oversaw some of the largest down-ballot losses in modern times," she wrote.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, 35, angered parts of the "Squad" progressive coalition by endorsing Joe Biden for re-election, despite his support of Israel's war in Gaza.

She also saw two fellow members of the group – Cori Bush in Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York – ousted by moderates during the Democratic primaries.

Identity politics The inquest into the election defeat also has other influential Democrats question the wisdom of getting involved in the culture war, in particular over trans issues .

From the Left, Bernie Sanders, warned that the party candidates should not have relied on identity politics .

"You can say, 'Look, isn't it great that we have in fact a very smart and effective black woman who's on the Supreme Court?' Great. But you don't hang your hat on that," he said on a New York Times podcast.

The rift between the party's Right and Left did not surprise Christopher Galdieri, a professor of politics at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

"This is not surprising, this is what happens to parties who have an election, you have a backlash," he told The Telegraph.

"When parties are shell-shocked, everyone has their say on what a party should do."