Top Democrat Donna Brazile concedes Democrats 'have been absolutely decimated' by the GOP

Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile

(Image credit: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)

published 21 August 2015

Since Obama became president, the Democratic Party has forfeited huge swaths of the nation to Republicans at every level of politics. In fact, you have to look back to the Great Depression or Watergate to find a similar reversal, Politico reports. Since Obama took office in 2009, Democrats have been crushed in the House and lost several Senate seats; Republicans have nabbed governorships in blue states and swing states, like Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, and Ohio; and arguably worst of all, Democrats controlled 27 state legislatures in 2009 and hold full power in just 11 today.

"In fact," writes Jeff Greenfield at Politico, "no president in modern times has presided over so disastrous a stretch for his party, at almost every level of politics."

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"We've been absolutely decimated at the state and local level," Democratic Party Vice Chair Donna Brazile said. It is, she believes, "almost a crime."

Read the whole thing over at Politico.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.