Washington Free Beacon reporter Lachlan Markay appeared on the Fox Business Network on Friday to discuss Rep. Tim Ryan's (D., Ohio) uphill challenge to unseat Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) as House minority leader.
Pelosi's long-held position as the top House Democrat was challenged on Thursday when Ryan sent a letter to the House Democratic Caucus announcing his bid to be minority leader, in which he wrote that the Democratic Party needed a new direction following the election results last week.
Host Neil Cavuto asked Markay about Ryan's challenge and how he was trying to bring young, angry Democrats to the floor due to Pelosi's leadership during the 2016 election cycle.
"Yeah a Democrat hasn't won a contested election for congressional leadership against an incumbent in something like fifty years, so I think the odds are definitely long, but he does show there is sort of an ideological component to his candidacy," Markay said.
Markay pointed out that Ryan and the Democrats need to focus on reaching out more to blue-collar workers and the rustbelt voters who helped Donald Trump win the presidency.
Later in the segment, Cavuto said that many Democrats keep blaming the Electoral College system for Hillary Clinton losing the presidency instead of focusing on the issues that their constituents care about.
"I think Al [Mottur] is right in terms of the emphasis that Democrats place on various issues to the extent they focus on identity politics, sort of divisive esoteric issues that are popular in maybe their more liberal coastal base. I think that's not a winning strategy," Markay said.
Markay said the party would be better off focusing on a progressive approach to economics.
"I think to the extent that they can focus on economics, even if it's their brand of economics, they are going to do better in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio and Iowa than they did this time around," Markay said.
Markay appeared on the panel alongside former Hillary for America finance member Al Mottur and Independent Women's Forum executive director Sabrina Schaeffer.