Biggest political turkey of 2025: Democrats who got burned this year

As the year draws to a close, 2025 has left many top Democrats wishing things had turned out differently — or perhaps people focused their attention elsewhere. Here are the top political turkeys ripped by conservatives in the past year.

Chuck Schumer

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. He has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike in the wake of a 43-day government shutdown that left Democrats reeling. empty handed

Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y. Democrats, led by Previously refused to pass spending laws to keep the government open.

But at the end of a painful and highly visible shutdown — the longest in the nation’s history — Republicans rejected efforts to negotiate subsidies. Without an off-ramp or negotiated strategy, even the most progressive members of the chamber expressed doubts about continuing the shutdown.

“I don’t see the point of delaying yet,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said moments after the key vote to reopen the Senate by Gov.

Many Democrats inside and outside Congress faulted Schumer for failing to unite Democrats in his stand on subsidies or other concessions. In both chambers on Capitol Hill, Schumer faces questions about his continued role as the party’s leader in the Senate.

Chuck Schumer became a top target by media figures during the shutdown fallout

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y. Left, the GOP holds a press conference on the reconciliation bill on June 11, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)

Kamala Harris

A groundbreaking book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson sheds new light on the nation’s worst-kept secrets in 2025. Readers are taken back Scenes of President Joe Biden’s physical decline — and his attempts to cover it up.

Questions about what Vice President Kamala Harris knew about Biden’s cognitive state have resurfaced in the wake of the book’s release.

Harris — who has said Biden could have served another term — will eventually replace him as a Democrat on the ticket in 2024.

At the time, Harris’ role was seen by many in the party as the obvious choice for Biden. But when President Donald Trump won in November, that opinion was shaken, and questions arose about whether Harris should have joined calls for Biden to step down.

Kamala Harris doesn’t rule out second presidential run in new interview: ‘I’m not done’

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo, November 1, 2024, in West Allis, Wisconsin. (Jacqueline Martin/AP Images)

Autopen

The Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House has portraits of every president – except one. Instead of President Joe Biden, the Trump administration put up a picture of an autopen, a device used to mimic someone else’s signature, symbolizing President Joe Biden’s reliance on his inner circle to make presidential decisions.

The House of Representatives launched an investigation into how much of its power Biden decided to delegate. in a Report Raised in October, the House Oversight Committee slammed the Biden administration for what it called “unlawful executive action.”

“The report exposes how President Joe Biden’s top advisers, political operatives and personal physicians hid the president’s mental and physical decline from the American public. The findings show that as President Biden’s health worsened, his aides exercised presidential authority and facilitated executive actions,” without the state’s direction of their report.

Questions remain about how far Biden’s use of AutoPen went and whether the legal status of sensitive decisions like pardons might get a second look.

Andrew Cuomo

The former New York governor is attempting a political comeback by running for mayor of New York City in 2025. The bid, which comes after his disastrous management of the state’s nursing home facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic and allegations of sexual harassment while governor, did little to improve his political standing.

Failed to capture Cuomo Nomination of the Democratic PartyIn the end he lost to Johran Mamdani by 7.7 percentage points. Refusing to give it up, Cuomo launched an independent campaign. There, Cuomo again fell behind Mamdani — this time by nearly nine points.

Aside from the personal loss, Cuomo’s defeat raises questions about whether more traditional Democrats can compete with the vision offered by the party’s far left.

“This campaign was necessary to make that point — a caution flag that we’re going down a dangerous, dangerous road,” Cuomo said in his concession speech. “Well, we made that point, and they listened to us, and we’re going to hold them to it.”

From AOC to Zohran Mamdani, Democrats are playing left wing politics

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa participate in the second New York City mayoral debate at LaGuardia Community College on October 22, 2025 in Long Island City, Queens, New York. (Getty Images via Heroko Masuike/AFP)

Chuck Schumer – Again

Schumer’s problems with the shutdown weren’t the only sore spot for the Senate minority leader over the past few months. Zohran Mamdani’s meteoric rise put this year’s biggest political turkey in a pressure cooker from which he could not escape.

He faced questions from Mamdani in the lead-up to the New York mayoral primaries. Then reporters started asking him if he would support Mamdani after the self-proclaimed socialist won the Democratic nomination. And even in the final days of the race, Schumer faced questions about whether he had decided to back the race’s clear front-runner.

That’s what Schumer delivered through it all The answer is no.

“Look, the bottom line is very simple. I have a good relationship with him, and we’re continuing to talk,” Schumer told reporters less than a week after the election.

Other Democrats, including Jeffrey, also delayed responding about Mamdani, while Schumer declined to comment on the New York City mayoral race.

Schumer’s dismissal of the issue fueled questions about the direction of the Democratic Party and whether its congressional caucus could play with the momentum on its left.

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That left some Democrats wondering whether the Senate’s top Democrat should make way for someone new — along with questions about his management of the shutdown.