AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten admonishes Democratic Party as she explains reasons for leaving DNC.

During Netroots Nation 2025, the president of the American Federation of Teachers discussed the reasons she left the DNC as she admonished the Democratic Party for their dereliction. #NN25

AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten.

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Summary

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, explained her decision to step away from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She stressed that while Democrats in Congress have fought hard, the party has failed to build power on Main Street. Weingarten argued that the Democratic Party must expand its tent by embracing workers and communities, not just focusing on policy debates in Washington. She also condemned the Trump administration’s attacks on public education, student loan borrowers, and afterschool programs, calling them cruel and disruptive. Her message was clear: Democrats must meet people where they are and fight visibly for working families.

• Independence from the DNC: Weingarten and other union leaders stepped away from DNC roles to maintain autonomy and better serve their members.
• Democrats’ missed opportunities: While Democratic leaders in Congress push back on Trump’s agenda, the broader party fails to mobilize on the ground.
• Public education under attack: The Trump administration gutted the Department of Education, harmed student loan borrowers, and slashed funding for afterschool and summer programs.
• Workers must feel represented: Weingarten urged Democrats to expand their economic tent to ensure workers of all backgrounds feel included.
• Teachers as democracy defenders: Her forthcoming book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, highlights how right-wing forces demonize educators because they nurture critical thinking and democratic values.

Weingarten’s critique is not a rejection of the Democratic Party but a call to action. If Democrats want to be the party of working people, they must prove it on Main Street, not just in Congress. Teachers, unions, and grassroots activists are already doing the work. Now the party itself must match that energy, mobilizing in red and blue communities alike to defend public education, protect families, and reclaim democracy from corporate and authoritarian capture

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Randi Weingarten’s decision to step away from the Democratic National Committee underscores a growing frustration within the labor movement and progressive circles: the Democratic Party is not doing enough to fight visibly for working people. While she acknowledges that congressional Democrats have pushed back against Trump’s agenda—particularly highlighting their effort to expose his tax giveaways to the wealthy as a “big ugly betrayal”—she insists that the battle for America’s future will not be won in the halls of Congress alone. It will be won on Main Street, in classrooms, in town halls, and in the daily lives of ordinary Americans.

Weingarten’s critique cuts to the heart of the Democratic Party’s longstanding weakness. For decades, the party has leaned heavily on policy expertise, technocratic fixes, and fundraising prowess, often neglecting the grassroots infrastructure needed to sustain real movements. When she asks, “Where were the state political parties? Where were the local Democratic clubs?” she shines a light on a glaring vacuum. The absence of a coordinated, visible presence on the ground leaves unions, teachers, and small advocacy groups to carry the load, while the party apparatus remains too often invisible.

This disconnect has real consequences. Workers who may share progressive economic values—higher wages, healthcare access, strong public schools—often feel alienated from the Democratic Party if their cultural conservatism or skepticism about elites isn’t addressed. Weingarten wisely invokes Franklin D. Roosevelt’s era, when the party offered a broad economic tent that made even culturally conservative workers feel included. The failure to maintain that inclusive vision is a central reason why Democrats have lost ground among working-class voters.

The urgency of her message is heightened by the Trump administration’s deliberate sabotage of public education. By gutting the Department of Education, defunding afterschool programs, and throwing student loan borrowers into chaos, Trump and his allies revealed their contempt for children, families, and the future of public education. Weingarten rightly frames these actions as not merely bureaucratic missteps but ideological assaults—attacks designed to undermine the very idea of public goods in favor of privatization, profit, and control.

Her focus on student loans illustrates how these attacks ripple across generations. Millions of borrowers, many of them young adults, face insurmountable obstacles due to cuts, incompetence, and deliberate policy sabotage. By stripping away support systems while empowering debt collectors, the administration turned the promise of higher education into a trap. As Weingarten warns, this is not just about efficiency or budgetary choices—it is about shaping who gets to thrive in America and who is pushed to the margins.

Weingarten’s forthcoming book, Why Fascists Fear Teachers, ties her critiques together. Teachers represent a threat to authoritarian forces because they foster critical thinking, empathy, and collective problem-solving. That is precisely why right-wing movements—from Chris Rufo’s crusades to Pompeo’s rhetoric—target educators as “woke indoctrinators,” pedophiles, or enemies of tradition. By demonizing teachers, the right seeks to delegitimize the very profession that nurtures democracy itself.

Her message is ultimately one of hope and resolve. She praises teachers as heroes who, despite systemic attacks, remain committed to helping children read, write, dream, and build futures. But she also challenges Democrats to do more—to amplify, support, and join these frontline struggles rather than retreat to the comfort of policy papers and fundraising dinners.

For progressives, Weingarten’s words serve as both validation and a rallying cry. She reminds us that movements win when they are visible, accessible, and rooted in the everyday struggles of ordinary people. The Democratic Party has the resources, the talent, and the historical legacy to reclaim that role. The question is whether it dares to follow the lead of teachers, workers, and grassroots activists who are already fighting for democracy on the streets of Main Street.