The biggest losers of 2025: Who fell flat as the year closed

2025 didn’t just reveal divisions in Democrats; His missteps have already created a short list of political losers shaping the battlefield of 2026. From establishment leaders squeezed by a restive progressive base to national figures burning through precious time, the past year has left behind a series of cautionary tales for a party out of power.

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Establishment and old-style Democrats

The loudest and most visible figures in the Democratic Party have not only voiced their opposition to the Trump administration, but also made clear that they expect a new version of the party to emerge in the future. From New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani promising sweeping government program increases to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hinting she could beat Vice President J.D. Vance in the presidential race, progressives can safely say they have the most visible momentum in 2025.

And that’s bad news for old-school Democrats.

As recently as last month, both House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Mass.) and House Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) faced key challenges from their progressive bases. These challengers expressed dissatisfaction with their resistance to rule. It’s unclear whether these calls are disproportionately loud at a moment when Democrats find themselves out of power. But many moderate Democrats told Fox News Digital they didn’t think it helped win over the political middle of the electorate.

If progressives remain out of the picture in 2026, more established Democrats may find it increasingly difficult to ignore pressure from the far left as the country heads toward midterm elections.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during a campaign event in support of Proposition 50 on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025, in San Francisco. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Gavin Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is running out of time to prove why he can be more than a party-messaging figurehead. He has established himself exactly in this role over the past year.

In 2025, Newsom has proven to be one of the key Democratic obstacles to Trump’s agenda. And on that front, there are few questions where it benefits from the attention.

Most importantly, Newsom rolled out a redistricting effort to unseat five Republicans after Texas put forward a similar plan earlier this year. While the plan has received mixed reviews even from Democrats wary of fighting fire with fire in the state, it has certainly advanced Newsom’s national standing.

But like every would-be Trump foil, Newsom finds himself somehow dependent on Trump for his next move. If Newsom begins positioning himself to run for the White House in 2028, he won’t have that luxury forever, and he only has one more year as governor of California.

Newsom has spent valuable time in 2025 to show voters in California and across the country what kind of governor he can be.

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Former President Joe Biden speaks with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday, September 2, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Joe Biden

Former President Joe Biden’s legacy is already outdated in 2025 on many important issues.

It took just weeks for the Trump administration to refute Biden’s claim that he was doing everything he could to stop the spread of illegal border crossings into the United States. Trump has brought the country to one of its lowest border encounters ever with several major executive orders.

And while this may be the most notable entry, the list of double takes doesn’t end there.

An automatic House investigation found that Biden had delegated an unprecedented amount of authority to his aides. What’s more, a book published by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson took an in-depth look at how hard his inner circle is working to maintain the president’s image amid concerns about his age and cognitive ability.

Taken together, Biden’s administration, only a year into office, has left Democrats wondering where to go next and provided Republicans with a wealth of evidence to prove that Democrats are not as transparent as they could be about the country’s problems.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gives his thumbs up as he leaves the Senate Chamber after speaking on the Senate floor on December 20, 2024. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Chuck Schumer

Few political figures in 2025 will be as strong as Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, D.N.Y. It has been a politically damaging year.

He took much of the blame for the disastrous 43-day government shutdown that left Democrats largely empty-handed. Although Schumer ultimately did not vote with the eight Democrats who supported the Republican plan to end the shutdown, he subsequently faced calls to step aside because he could not get Senate Democrats on board.

To many Republicans, Schumer’s political calculus during the shutdown was about putting up a good enough fight to appease the progressive side of the Democratic base.

However, Schumer could not achieve this either.

At the time of the shutdown, the New York City mayoral race was in its final stages with little to say from the Senate Minority Leader. When it became clear that self-proclaimed socialist Zohran Mamdani would win the party’s nomination, Schumer tried to dodge questions about whether he would support her bid. This reluctance never went away, and questions about the relationship between the two Democrats intensified further.

With only a few days left until the election, Schumer continued to offer unanswered answers about Mamdani.

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At the end of 2025, Schumer left unanswered questions about whether he could still effectively lead the party and whether he represented the future of the party.