A group of wealthy Democratic donors will gather early next year to try to figure out how the party can recover from Donald J. Trump’s victory and extricate itself from the liberal malaise of his looming second term.
Big-dollar Democratic contributors have been despondent and adrift since Mr. Trump’s triumph last month — and their willingness to open their checkbooks to fund opposition to him remains in some doubt. But the liberal group American Bridge plans to bring dozens of donors to a luxury hotel in Palm Beach, Fla, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 3, according to Alexandra De Luca, a spokeswoman for the organization.
American Bridge, which includes a super PAC and several nonprofit groups, is one of the leading networks of liberal donors that have arisen since a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2010, known as Citizens United, that allowed unlimited corporate spending in elections. The group estimates that it raised about $150 million overall during this year’s election cycle.
About 150 donors or prospective donors are expected to attend the gathering, now in its seventh iteration and rechristened as “Democracy Matters.” Attendees will hear from elected officials, particularly those who have won difficult races, the group said.
“This was a close election, and we lost. But we can’t just move on without identifying what we as a party failed at, addressing solutions and forging ahead,” said Bradley Beychok, the group’s president. “Our job is to analyze a 360-degree view of last November and offer solutions to help address and solve for the challenges that lie ahead.”
Speakers will include Mitch Landrieu, a former Biden administration official who also served as mayor of New Orleans; Heather Cox Richardson, a historian and popular newsletter writer; Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian; John Della Volpe, a top Democratic pollster; Jennifer Rubin, an opinion columnist at The Washington Post; and John Harwood, a journalist who has worked for CNBC, CNN and The New York Times.
The American Bridge network was founded by David Brock, a former conservative journalist who has become a leading Democratic fund-raiser and adviser to major donors.
With the Democratic fund-raising world still in turmoil after Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat, part of what the party’s big donors have been debating is whether they should try to rejigger their universe to better prepare for the 2026 and 2028 elections.
