How Democrats Lost Their Way on Immigration
Untangling the realities from the rhetoric on an issue that has transformed politics across the West.
By Isaac Chotiner
March 3, 2025
David Leonhardt—who until recently ran the New York Times’ flagship newsletter, “The Morning”—has been trying to understand what Democrats need to do to win elections again. He recently explored this issue at length in the Times Magazine. The story focusses on Denmark, where a center-left party has managed to achieve political success at a time when the far right is rising across Europe. Leonhardt attributes that success in large part to the party’s willingness to pursue a restrictive immigration policy. He uses the story of Denmark to explain how and why he believes Democrats have struggled, and what the Party might do going forward. As he writes, “For center-left parties around the world, Denmark offers a glimpse at what a different version of the left can look like—more working-class, more community-focused and more restrictive on immigration.”
I recently spoke by phone with Leonhardt, who is about to become an editorial director of the Times’ Opinion section, and is the author of the book “Ours Was the Shining Future.” During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed why he thinks the Biden Administration stumbled on the immigration issue, why Barack Obama’s relatively harsh immigration policies were not enough to prevent Donald Trump’s rise, and how much the economic debate over immigration’s effects on wages really matters to voters.
Of all the issues that Democrats had real control over in 2024, do you think immigration was the one they screwed up the most?
Yes, and I think the second half of that is important. I think the Democrats had three really problematic issues. Inflation, which is probably the biggest, and I think they had some control over that, but it was limited. Then there was Biden’s age and the notion that he and the people around him, including [Vice-President Kamala] Harris, weren’t especially honest about it, and they probably had some control over that, too.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-democrats-lost-their-way-on-immigration
