#party-leadership

#party-leadership

As the dust continues to settle on a presidential campaign defined by apathy, and Government parties continue to question where it all went wrong for them (and no I don't believe it all comes down to poor judgment or poor candidates, although those things remain true), that Micheál Martin ever believed that Jim Gavin had some kind of star quality still leaves me bewildered. There's a reason I think Catherine Connolly ran rings around her opponents.

Party leaders recruit the best option, in their eyes, and Democratic primary voters-innately terrified of risk and trusting of their leaders' judgment-fall in line. It doesn't always work out. Sometimes, like North Carolina's Cal Cunningham in 2020, the chosen ones have zipper issues. But Democrats' establishment-driven approach, contrasted with Republicans' less top-driven (and more mistake-prone) strategy for candidate selection, did give Democrats four years in the Senate majority from 2021 to 2025,

They had managed to have three leaders in a little over a year: Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and then John Swinney. It was a rate of attrition that would make even the Conservative Party of recent years blush. There had also been a high-profile and long-running police investigation into the SNP's finances, involving Sturgeon, who was told earlier this year she would face no action.

For Keir Starmer, this year's Labour conference was a chance not just to address the party faithful but to see if there were any faithful left. With terrible approval ratings, and Reform UK in the ascendant, it was hard to see who his supporters might be, while Manchester's mayor, Andy Burnham, seemed to be getting ready to challenge him as leader.

Ontario's two largest opposition parties are grappling with dissension within their ranks, and experts say the work to unify their members and rebuild their parties will be difficult and could complicate their missions to defeat Doug Ford in the next provincial election. Both the Ontario New Democrats and Liberals emerged from party conventions this month with questions looming about their respective futures.

Reform is currently on 31% (+1 on a fortnight ago) of the vote, followed by Labour 22% (-1), the Conservatives 17% (-1), and the Liberal Democrats 12% (n/c). When looking at voting intention among those who voted Labour in the General Election in 2024, only 67% would pick Labour again, whilst 12% would now choose Reform, 6% Liberal Democrats, 6% the Green Party, and 2% would vote for the Conservatives.

Greene expressed frustration with GOP leadership, stating, "I think the Republican party has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans."