This is an article from the June 2025 Civitas Examiner (Volume 2, No. 3) and was written by one of our students, Emily N. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue. To read more Civitas Examiner stories or to submit your own, click here.
When Jimmy Carter made his obscure bid for the White House following his single and final term as the governor of Georgia, the first U.S. senator to endorse him was a young Democrat named Joe Biden.
On a converging path, the two political allies found friendship in shared beginnings. Vying for prominent seats as underdog candidates, both men launched far-fetched, but ultimately successful campaigns. Carter used his anonymity to his advantage, marketing himself as an outsider, keen on changing the ways of Washington following explosive government mistrust related to the Watergate scandal. Biden, then just a Delaware county councilman, relied on nontraditional politics, depending upon a family-run campaign and strong voter connectivity to unseat an incumbent, becoming one of the youngest U.S. senators ever.
By the end of their respective high-profile political careers, the two presidents, both serving single terms, had come to a dispiriting consensus: They were failed presidents.
At the root of their failures in office lies a charter for the next successful Democratic presidential candidate to follow — especially one that may rise from the great insignificance that Carter and Biden had once used to capture the hope of Americans seeking change.
According to Ben Senturia, the former executive director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and a lifelong political junkie, “there are real truths about running for president” — communication and the advantage of not being like the last guy.
Effective presidents will be able to communicate to their base in a way that resonates with the issues that concern most Americans. Successful presidents will be able to be remembered for their communication, in the same way that Franklin Roosevelt is characterized for championing his “fireside chats” where he sculpted a media presence to build a personal relationship with the nation’s people. “People remember that. That’s what survived history. His ability to communicate to the public was a principal part of his administration,” said Senturia. Even Donald Trump, who told 30,573 “false or misleading statements” during his first term according to the Washington Post, communicates effectively to his base, albeit through the weaponization of a clear, direct, and repetitive message and platforms like the free speech platform Truth Social. Voters, enthralled by his ability to connect to them, rewarded him with a second nonconsecutive term.
In comparison, Carter and Biden were penalized for their ill-fated attempts at the same type of communication. Carter, with his “malaise speech” was seen as blaming Americans for enveloping themselves in a “crisis of confidence” losing faith in government and their ability to “serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy.” Comparatively, Biden, in his farewell address to the nation, urged for reforms targeting billionaires and dark money, though he has accepted contributions from billionaires including George Soros, whom he granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024. The two tried to relate to everyday people in the wrong way, lacking an important urgency in their calls to action that compels control and most importantly, trust, not as a person but as a president.
Though Carter and Biden benefited greatly from being fresh faces for change at the beginning of their political and presidential careers, so will the next Democratic nominee.
When junior Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who was 88th on the Senate seniority list leading up to the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, surface comparisons were drawn between the Tampa Bay Times-described “likable, charismatic, African-American neophyte” and “Jimmy who?” Senturia maintains that Obama “came out of nowhere. Jimmy Carter did the same thing” though not to the same extent as the former, a prominent orator, who honed in on the momentous hope unique to his exceptional election.
The next Democratic candidate will need to not only differentiate themselves from Donald Trump, who has alienated even his own voters into demonstrating against his administration, but also Joe Biden and the current established Democratic party. Protests against the current administration made clear a distaste for Trump policies, but fail to show how a new era of leftist ideology will be drastically different from the time of Biden. By proxy, Vice President Kamala Harris associated herself with the Biden administration by accepting the torch of political taintedness by way of accepting his endorsement for her presidency. To many voters, particularly those leaning towards a vote for Trump, Harris was easily an extension of Biden, even though she focused on differentiating herself. The American people did want a familiar Democrat last year and they probably won’t want one in three years.
The key to a blue White House will be a fresh face and a good story that will resonate with not only themselves but with their neighbors, families, and most importantly, their enemies. The next candidate will be handed a task of utmost importance: unifying both the country and their party, speaking across the differences found in the American electorate and a fractured party.
