A depressed and demoralized Democratic Party is beginning the painful slog into a largely powerless future, as its leaders grapple with how deeply they underestimated Donald J. Trump’s resurgent hold on the nation.

沮丧、士气低落的民主党开始痛苦地迈向一个基本上无能为力的未来，领导人们正设法认清他们在多大程度上低估了特朗普此次卷土重来的强势。

The nationwide repudiation of the party stunned many Democrats who had expressed a “nauseous” confidence about their chances in the final weeks of the race. As they sifted through the wreckage of their defeats, they found no easy answers as to why voters so decisively rejected their candidates.

全国范围内对该党的否定令许多民主党人震惊，他们曾对该党在竞选最后几周的机会表现出“令人恶心”的信心。当他们在败战后的废墟中仔细搜寻时，对于选民为何如此果断地拒绝该党的候选人，他们找不到简单的答案。

In more than two dozen interviews, lawmakers, strategists and officials offered a litany of explanations for Vice President Kamala Harris’s failure — and just about all of them fit neatly into their preconceived notions of how to win in politics.

在二十多次采访中，议员、策略师和官员对副总统贺锦丽的失败给出了一连串的解释——几乎所有解释都符合他们关于如何在政治上获胜的先入为主的观念。

The quiet criticism, on phone calls, in group chats and during morose team meetings, was a behind-the-scenes preview of the intraparty battle to come, with Democrats quickly falling into the ideological rifts that have defined their party for much of the Trump era.

在电话、群聊和阴沉的团队会议上，这些悄无声息的批评是对即将到来的党内斗争的幕后预演，民主党人很快就会陷入意识形态的裂痕，这种裂痕在特朗普时代的大部分时间里定义了民主党。

What was indisputable was how badly Democrats did. They lost the White House, surrendered control of the Senate and appeared headed to defeat in the House. They performed worse than four years ago in cities and suburbs, rural towns and college towns. An early New York Times analysis of the results found the vast majority of the nation’s more than 3,100 counties swinging rightward since President Biden won in 2020.

无可争议的是，民主党的表现非常糟糕。他们失去了白宫，交出了对参议院的控制，似乎在众议院也要失败。他们在城市和郊区、村镇和大学城的表现都不如四年前。《纽约时报》对选举结果的早期分析发现，自拜登总统在2020年获胜以来，美国3100多个县中的绝大多数都向右倾斜。

The results showed that the Harris campaign, and Democrats more broadly, had failed to find an effective message against Mr. Trump and his down-ballot allies or to address voters’ unhappiness about the direction of the nation under Mr. Biden. The issues the party chose to emphasize — abortion rights and the protection of democracy — did not resonate as much as the economy and immigration, which Americans often highlighted as among their most pressing concerns.

结果显示，贺锦丽的竞选团队乃至更广泛的民主党人未能找到针对特朗普及其基层选战盟友的有效信息，也未能解决选民对拜登领导下国家发展方向的不满。民主党选择强调的问题——堕胎权和保护民主——并不像经济和移民问题那样能够引起共鸣，而美国人经常把经济和移民问题列为最迫切关心的问题。

Many Democrats were considering how to navigate a dark future, with the party unable to stop Mr. Trump from carrying out a right-wing transformation of American government. Others turned inward, searching for why the nation rejected them.

民主党无法阻止特朗普对美国政府进行右翼改造，许多民主党人都在考虑如何应对黑暗的未来。另一些人则进行内省，寻找国家拒绝他们的原因。

They spoke about misinformation and the struggle to communicate the party’s vision in a diminished news environment inundated with right-wing propaganda. They conceded that Ms. Harris had paid a price for not breaking from Mr. Biden’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza, which angered Arab American voters in Michigan. Some felt their party had moved too far to the left on social issues like transgender rights. Others argued that as Democrats had shifted rightward on economic issues, they had left behind the interests of the working class.

他们谈到错误信息，以及在充斥着右翼宣传的新闻环境中传达民主党愿景的困难。他们承认，贺锦丽没有放弃拜登在加沙战争中对以色列的支持，为此付出了代价，这激怒了密歇根州的阿拉伯裔美国选民。一些人认为，民主党在跨性别者权利等社会问题上过于左倾。还有人认为，随着民主党人在经济问题上的右倾，他们把工人阶级的利益抛在了后面。

They lamented a Democratic Party brand that has become toxic in many parts of the country. Several noted that the independent Senate candidate in Nebraska ran 14 percentage points ahead of Ms. Harris in the state.

他们哀叹民主党的品牌在全国许多地方变得有害。一些人指出，内布拉斯加州的独立参议员候选人在该州的得票比贺锦丽多出14个百分点。

And many said they were struggling to process the scale of their loss, describing their feelings as a mix of shock, mourning and panic over what might come in a second Trump administration.

许多人表示，他们正在努力认清损失的严重程度，对第二个特朗普政府可能出现的情况感到震惊、悲伤和恐慌。

“I am pretty devastated and worried,” said Representative Veronica Escobar of Texas, who served as a co-chair for the Harris campaign. “There’s real, imminent danger for people here. There is real danger here ahead for Americans — including many Americans who voted for Trump.”

“我非常震惊和担心，”曾担任贺锦丽竞选团队联合主席的得克萨斯州众议员维罗妮卡·埃斯科瓦尔说。“这里的人们面临着真正的、迫在眉睫的危险。美国人面临着真正的危险，包括许多投票给特朗普的美国人。”

贺锦丽败选演讲上的支持者们。许多民主党人表示，他们正在努力认清损失的严重程度。“虽然我承认在这次选举中失败了，但我不承认为了这场选举而进行的斗争失败了，”贺锦丽说。

Soul-searching over strategy and values

对战略和价值观的反思

Not everyone was quite as mournful.

并不是所有人都这么悲伤。

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longtime progressive standard-bearer, blamed what he called a party-wide emphasis on identity politics at the expense of focusing on the economic concerns of working-class voters.

佛蒙特州参议员伯尼·桑德斯长期以来一直是进步派的旗手，他指责全党都在强调身份政治，忽视了对工薪阶层选民经济问题的关注。

“It’s not just Kamala,” he said. “It’s a Democratic Party which increasingly has become a party of identity politics, rather than understanding that the vast majority of people in this country are working class. This trend of workers leaving the Democratic Party started with whites, and it has accelerated to Latinos and Blacks.”

“不只是贺锦丽的问题，”他说。“民主党越来越成为一个身份政治的政党，而没有理解这个国家绝大多数人是工薪阶层。工人离开民主党的趋势始于白人，并加速向拉美裔和黑人蔓延。”

Mr. Sanders, a political independent who has long criticized the influence of the party’s biggest donors and veteran operatives, offered a pessimistic forecast: “Whether or not the Democratic Party has the capability, given who funds it and its dependency on well-paid consultants, whether it has the capability of transforming itself, remains to be seen.”

桑德斯是一名政治独立人士，长期以来一直批评民主党最大的捐助者和资深操盘手的影响力。他给出了一个悲观的预测：“考虑到民主党的资金来源以及它对高薪顾问的依赖，民主党是否有能力实现自我转型，还有待观察。”

Mr. Sanders was hardly the only one who diagnosed the party’s problem as being too beholden to the needs of its identity groups. Mr. Trump spent tens of millions of dollars on anti-transgender television advertising, which went unanswered by the Harris campaign and its allies.

桑德斯并不是唯一一个将民主党的问题归结为过于受制于其身份群体需求的人。特朗普在反对跨性别者的电视广告上花费了数千万美元，贺锦丽的竞选团队及其盟友对此没有回应。

Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who was one of two dozen Democrats who sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2020, suggested the party should shift its approach to transgender issues.

马萨诸塞州众议员赛斯·莫尔顿是寻求2020年民主党总统候选人提名的24名民主党人之一，他建议民主党应该改变对跨性别问题的态度。

“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Mr. Moulton said. “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

“民主党人花了太多时间试图不冒犯任何人，而不是诚实面对许多美国人面临的挑战，”莫尔顿说。“我有两个小女儿，我不希望她们在运动场上被男性或前男性运动员碾压，但作为一名民主党人，我应该不敢这么说。”

But Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said Democrats should not give in to prejudice and misinformation. She compared the fight for transgender rights to the struggle over gay marriage, in which public opinion shifted quickly.

但国会进步核心小组主席、华盛顿州众议员普拉米拉·贾亚帕尔表示，民主党人不应该向偏见和不实信息屈服。她将争取跨性别者权利的斗争与反对同性婚姻的斗争相提并论，后者的公众舆论变化很快。

“We need to create space for people’s fears and let them get to know people,” said Ms. Jayapal, who described herself as “the proud mom of a daughter who happens to be trans.”

“我们需要为人们的恐惧创造空间，让他们去了解别人，”贾亚帕尔说。她称自己是“一个骄傲的母亲，有一个女儿碰巧是跨性别”。

“And we need to counter the idea that my daughter is a threat to anyone else’s children,” she said.

她说：“我们需要反驳那种认为我的女儿对其他人的孩子构成威胁的想法。”

由于拜登政府在加沙战争中支持以色列，贺锦丽面临着选民的愤怒。在民主党全国代表大会的台上，拜登总统拥抱女儿阿什莉。贺锦丽在与这位不受欢迎的总统保持距离上遭遇困难。

‘The dynamics of this race were baked in’

“竞选的态势已经注定”

And then there was the blame for Mr. Biden.

然后是对拜登的指责。

Even before he announced his run for re-election, Democrats were whispering that the president, now 81, was too old to seek re-election, and polls confirmed that voters had serious reservations.

甚至在他宣布竞选连任之前，民主党人就在窃窃私语，说这位现年81岁的总统太老了，不适合寻求连任，民意调查也证实，选民们对他竞选连任有严重的保留意见。

Democrats who were worried at the time now say Ms. Harris never really had a chance.

当时忧心忡忡的民主党人如今表示，贺锦丽从未真正有过机会。

“The dynamics of this race were baked in before Kamala Harris became a candidate,” said Julián Castro, the former housing secretary who also ran for president in 2020. “She was dealt a bad hand. She was trying to get elected in the shadow of a president who was unpopular and who the public had overwhelmingly been saying should not run for re-election and took too long to step aside.”

“贺锦丽成为候选人之前，竞选的态势就已经注定，”曾参加2020年总统竞选的前住房部长朱利安·卡斯特罗说。“她手上的牌很差。她在一位不受欢迎的总统的阴影下参选，绝大多数公众都说这位总统不应该竞选连任，而且他花了太长时间才让位。”

Even David Plouffe, a veteran Democratic strategist whom Ms. Harris brought into her operation after Mr. Biden dropped out, seemed to suggest that the president had put her in a difficult position.

就连贺锦丽在拜登退出后聘请的资深民主党策略师戴维·普洛夫似乎也表示，是总统让她陷入了困境。

“We dug out of a deep hole but not enough,” Mr. Plouffe wrote on X.

“我们从一个大坑里爬了出来，但这还不够，”普劳夫在X上写道。

Mr. Biden’s defenders said it was not his fault.

拜登的辩护者说，这不是他的错。

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a top Biden ally, said he did not think the president had been a drag on Ms. Harris. She ran “a terrific campaign,” he added.

特拉华州参议员、拜登的重要盟友克里斯·库恩斯说，他不认为拜登拖累了贺锦丽。他还说，她的竞选活动“非常出色”。

“There’s a couple of groups in the United States, young men and Latino voters, that just did not respond in a positive way to our candidate and our message and our record,” he said. “We had a gap that we didn’t close.”

“美国有几个群体——年轻人和拉丁裔选民——对我们的候选人、我们的信息和我们的履历没有积极的反应，”他说。“我们有差距，但我们没有缩小它。”

For her part, Ms. Harris delivered a concession speech that urged supporters to remain vigilant about the present and optimistic about the future, and to keep fighting for their values. She did not point fingers or cast blame.

贺锦丽发表了败选演讲，敦促支持者对当下保持警惕，对未来保持乐观，继续为自己的价值观而奋斗。她没有指责或抨击任何人。

“I am so proud of the race we ran, and the way we ran it,” she said. “Hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always burn bright. As long as we never give up. And as long as we keep fighting.”

“我为我们的竞选和我们竞选的方式感到骄傲，”她说。“请听我说，美国的希望之光将永远闪耀。只要我们永不放弃。只要我们继续战斗。”

On Thursday, Mr. Biden addressed the nation from the Rose Garden, urging his supporters to remain optimistic and tenacious.

周四，拜登在白宫玫瑰园向全国发表讲话，敦促支持者保持乐观和顽强。

“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” he said. “We all get knocked down, but the measure of our character, as my dad would say, is how quickly we get back up.”

“挫折是不可避免的，但放弃是不可原谅的，”他说。“我们都曾被打倒过，但正如我父亲常说的那样，衡量我们品格的标准，就是看我们能够多快地站起来。”

As they reflected on the fallout, Democratic officials compared notes about where this Election Day ranked on their list of horrible experiences.

民主党官员在反思这次选举的后果时比较了这次选举日在党内灾难史上的排名。

Matt Bennett, the executive vice president for public affairs at Third Way, a centrist think tank, said the party had not faced a crisis as severe since the 1980s, when Democrats lost three straight presidential races in landslides.

中间派智库Third Way负责公共事务的执行副总裁马特·贝内特表示，民主党自上世纪80年代以来从未面临过如此严重的危机，当时民主党在总统竞选中连续三次惨败。

To regain their grip on power, Democrats must embrace a more moderate approach, he argued. But that will not be easy, Mr. Bennett warned, since the party is facing a leadership vacuum with Mr. Biden weakened and Ms. Harris defeated.

他认为，为了重新掌握权力，民主党必须采取更温和的方式。但贝内特警告说，这并不容易，因为拜登被削弱，贺锦丽被击败，民主党正面临领导真空。

“The one way to beat a right-wing populist is through the center,” Mr. Bennett said. “You must become the party that is more pragmatic, reasonable and more sane. That’s where we have to go.”

“打败右翼民粹主义者的唯一方法是通过中间派，”贝内特说。“必须成为一个更务实、更理性、更理智的政党。这就是我们要做的。”

在密歇根州迪尔伯恩的奥克曼小学投票。该州有大量阿拉伯裔美国人和穆斯林投票给前总统特朗普。许多民主党人都在考虑如何应对一个黑暗的未来，因为该党无法阻止特朗普制定一项全面的右翼议程。

A leadership vacuum

领导真空

Mini Timmaraju, the chief executive of Reproductive Freedom for All, said Democrats must develop a long-term plan to directly confront the sexism — both within their party and the nation — that hampered Ms. Harris and Hillary Clinton, the only women to win a major party’s presidential nomination.

全民生育自由的首席执行官米妮·迪马拉朱说，民主党人必须制定一个长期计划，直接对抗党内和全国的性别歧视，这种歧视阻碍了贺锦丽和希拉里·克林顿，她们是仅有的赢得主要政党总统候选人提名的女性。

“We can’t keep brushing it under the rug,” she said. “The narrative cannot be, ‘Kamala Harris somehow failed.’ There’s a bigger failure here and we have to figure it out and reckon with it.”

“我们不能一直掩盖它，”她说。“叙事不能是‘贺锦丽不知怎么地就失败了。’这里有一个更大的失败，我们必须弄清楚，并且解决它。”

With Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris now political lame ducks, the Senate majority gone and without a likely House speaker in the party, Democrats in 2025 will find themselves short on clear leaders, as they did after Mr. Trump won in 2016.

拜登和贺锦丽现在已成为政治上的跛脚鸭，参议院的多数席位已经失去，很可能也不会有一个民主党的众议院议长，2025年，民主党人会发现自己缺乏明确的领导人，就像特朗普在2016年获胜后的情况一样。

The next decision party leaders face is whom to choose as the next leader of the Democratic National Committee, a post that was largely ceremonial with Mr. Biden in office but will include far more responsibilities and power without White House officials calling the shots.

民主党领导人面临的下一个决定是选择谁作为民主党全国委员会的下一任领导人。这个职位在拜登执政期间基本上是一个礼仪性的职位，但在没有白宫官员发号施令的情况下，这个职位将包含更多的责任和权力。

Jaime Harrison, the party’s chairman since Mr. Biden installed him in the post four years ago, has said for months that he will not seek another term. A new election is set to take place early next year.

杰米·哈里森四年前被拜登任命为民主党主席，几个月来他一直表示不会寻求连任。新的选举将于明年初举行。