A Democratic lawmaker in Virginia recently condemned his party for disparaging Republicans through rhetoric that he says has alienated working class voters and sewn distrust among the electorate.
Del. Sam Rasoul, the sole Muslim in the Virginia General Assembly, stepped down from his party leadership post on Friday to focus on what he said is the need for Democrats to bridge divisions between urban and rural voters.
"I feel as though the [leadership] right now is not committed to the radical changes we need to connect with the values of working class America," Rasoul, 35, told the Washington Post on Saturday. "We were sent a mandate on Election Day that we have to completely rethink the way we do business."
Rasoul plans to suggest a candidate training program that will advise hopeful lawmakers "not on what issues you should run on but on how we should conduct ourselves." He pointed to Hillary Clinton's use of the word "deplorables" to describe Donald Trump supporters as evidence that the Democratic Party needs to reach out to voters beyond its base.
"That word in and of itself showed me how disconnected we are sometimes," he said at an event Sunday, the Roanoke Times reported.
"Sure, we need to be super-strong in condemning acts of real hatred and bigotry and racism, but when people believe that all of Trump voters are racist, they really are not empathizing with the wants and needs of a lot of folks, and we are missing out," he said.
In the days following Trump's stunning defeat of Clinton, several Democrats reignited calls to abolish the Electoral College. Others, including Clinton, pegged the party's upset on FBI Director James Comey, who announced days before the election that he had reopened the investigation into the Democratic nominee's use of a private email server at the State Department.
Rasoul said those excuses miss the point.
"I love our platform, but when we want to use the same negative campaign tactics, when we do not try to genuinely listen and build trust with people from all walks of life, we're not really being sincere about the values we espouse," he told the Post.