Rep. Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) said Friday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that the Democratic Party's brand is "terrible" and if Democrats want to save Obamacare, then they should have focused more on it during the 2016 campaign.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Ryan to describe the state of his party after House Republicans on Thursday passed their plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. The bill, known as the American Health Care Act, eliminates Obamacare's taxes and individual and employer mandates. The plan also keeps several Obamacare provisions, such as protecting those with preexisting conditions and allowing young individuals to stay on their parents' insurance plan until they turn 26.
Ryan said the Democratic Party has to change its brand if Democrats want to be voted back into power.
"We have to change our brand. I mean, our brand is terrible, but I think that starts on an agenda of getting people back to work," Ryan said.
Ryan blamed his party for focusing too much on Donald Trump and not promoting its agenda for the American people.
"We were talking a lot about Donald Trump, we had a lot of commercials running about him," Ryan said. "And we didn't have enough commercials running about how you're going to help out working class people, that these working class people, the system is rigged against them."
"Those are issues that hit home, and I think we spent a little too much time talking about Donald Trump's behavior as opposed to we care about you, we'll go to the mat for you, and that's gonna be all we talk," Ryan later added.