CNN senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny said Tuesday that the Democratic Party is in "complete disrepair and disarray" and has "no leader" as Democrats try to develop a new electoral strategy against Republicans.
Zeleny's comments came in response to host Dana Bash, who had listed some of the potential Democratic contenders for president in 2020. Zeleny said that the media will not know who the most popular candidates will be until after the 2018 midterm elections.
"Sen. Kamala Harris [D., Calif.] is fascinating to me because she arrives in Washington at the same exact time Barack Obama arrived in Washington, 2005 for him [and] 2017 for her in terms of the first year of a new Republican administration," Zeleny added.
He then said the Democratic Party "generally looks to someone new, not someone old; the future, not the past," appearing to indicate that a relative newcomer like Harris may be a more viable candidate than someone like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who has already had a national stage.
Zeleny went on to say that Democrats have a "huge problem" because "there is no bench for the party."
"They can be laughing all they want about these poll numbers for Donald Trump, but the reality is, Democrats are in complete disrepair and disarray in their own party. There's no leader," Zeleny said.
Zeleny's criticism of the Democratic Party echoes CNN host Kate Bolduan, who castigated the party on Monday for having "no real clear message."
"I mean if you look at where Democrats are right now," Bolduan said. "[Democrats] lost all the special elections you guys all thought you had a chance in, there is no real clear leader of the party as everybody starts looking towards 2020, and there's no real clear message despite the attempt at the reboot."