Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur chats with the new 35-year-old chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus about where Democrats went wrong in the 2024 election. Plus, senior national political reporter Jonathan Allen breaks down why Pete Hegseth faces such a steep uphill climb to become the next defense secretary.

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Where House progressives’ new leader thinks Democrats went wrong

By Sahil Kapur

The Democratic Party messed up in the 2024 election, says Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, the newly elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and it needs a dramatic course shift to rediscover its brand and put winning “above being right.”

In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News on Wednesday, one day before he was officially elected as chair, Casar laid out his vision for the future, saying that Democrats need to return to their roots as the party of the working class. That means welcoming voters who disagree with the left on cultural issues and not being “seen as preachy or disconnected.”

Following a devastating defeat to President-elect Donald Trump that Casar insists was avoidable, the congressman said Democrats must refocus their core identity on helping workers and increasing wages — but do so “without throwing vulnerable people under the bus.”

He rejected the view that Democrats need to turn against immigrants or transgender people after Trump campaigned heavily on those issues against Vice President Kamala Harris. Instead, Casar said Democrats should change course by redirecting such attacks and accusing the GOP of fueling culture wars to district voters from their agenda of helping the rich get richer.

“The progressive movement needs to change. We need to re-emphasize core economic issues every time some of these cultural war issues are brought up,” Casar said. “So when we hear Republicans attacking queer Americans again, I think the progressive response needs to be that a trans person didn’t deny your health insurance claim, a big corporation did — with Republican help.”

“We need to connect the dots for people that the Republican Party obsession with these culture war issues is driven by Republicans’ desire to distract voters and have them look away while Republicans pick their pocket,” he added. 

Casar, 35, from Austin, ran unopposed for progressive chair to take the reins from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who is term-limited. It’s a rapid rise for the native Texan and son of immigrants from Mexico, who was a labor organizer and Austin City Council member before winning his second term in the House last month.

Casar’s remarks add to an intense debate within the Democratic Party in which some blame Harris’ defeat on the excesses of the left, imposing social litmus tests that alienated large swaths of working-class voters. Harris was dogged by some stances she took in her first run for president in 2019, most notably her endorsement of gender-affirming care for inmates, including those in the country illegally, paid by taxpayers, which Trump used to depict her as disconnected from ordinary Americans.

Casar believes the median voter stands to the left of the Democratic Party’s mainstream on economic issues, and he admitted that, at least today, the median voter is more culturally conservative than his party. He said the solution is to lead without getting too far ahead of where that voter is on social issues.

“I think we should lead the country, but we should never be more than an arm’s length ahead,” Casar said. “If we get more than a couple arms lengths ahead of the country, then you’re vulnerable to attacks from the Republicans.”

Read more from the interview →

A bad sign for Pete Hegseth’s prospects

By Jonathan Allen

It’s a bad sign for Pete Hegseth’s defense secretary bid that he is now promising not to drink “a drop of alcohol” if the Senate confirms him for the job. 

There’s a precedent for the Senate rejecting a Pentagon pick — former Sen. John Tower in 1989 — after concerns over drinking came into focus. With Tower, there were other issues: alleged conflicts of interest.

And Hegseth’s selection is in such deep trouble because he is also fighting a multifront war. His qualifications for the job are nontraditional. He’s never led an organization nearly the size of the Pentagon or served in a high-ranking post in the military. 

Instead of fighting a single battle, there are now at least four prongs for his critics to attack: lack of qualification, reports of alcohol abuse, alleged inappropriate treatment of women and an accusation of sexual assault, all of which Hegseth has denied.  

Any of those, if true, could be reason enough for the Senate to reject a candidate. Senators are not required to choose one reason — or any reason — to justify their votes against a nominee.

More importantly, they don’t have to make any public pronouncement at all — not even a vote — if the majority leader doesn’t bring a nomination to the floor.

Surely, some Republican senators hope that, as happened with Matt Gaetz’s selection to run the Justice Department, quiet threats to vote no are enough to scuttle the pick without them having to cast votes against President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee.

But even if Hegseth gets a vote in January, a good rule of watching the Senate is that baggage tends to compound. Senators may be willing to defend Hegseth on any one of the marks against him. But all four?

It will be a surprise to many in Washington if he’s confirmed.

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]

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