Washington Post:

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) has spent years preparing to helm the Democratic political operation.

Maloney led an investigation into the disappointing 2016 campaign. In late 2018, he ran to become chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) but was stopped by a brief hospital stint. Just after the 2020 election, the job was finally his.

Now, with Democrats at risk of losing their majority this fall, Maloney is trying to answer one critical question about how voters view his party. “If they agree with us on the issues,” the DCCC chairman asked, “why don’t they like us more?”

Maloney, 55, is in his 10th year representing parts of the Hudson Valley north of New York City, which voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and President Biden in 2020, and has found some “answers that aren’t comfortable” for his party to hear. He has taken on the role of truth teller, trying to get his caucus shifted away from issues that he thinks repel swing voters.

“They think that we’re divisive and too focused on cultural issues. They think that we’re preachy. They think that we act like we know better than parents when it comes to their kids in schools,” Maloney said in an interview here during a conference designed to try to forge some unity. “The problem is not the voters,” he added. “The problem is us.”

Not all members agree with his assessment. Many “front liners,” or those lawmakers facing tough midterm races, skipped the conference, sending the message that they trust their own instincts over those of national party operatives and Maloney….

The overall mood in Philadelphia was bleak and based in reality. House Democrats know their chances of holding the majority are not great and they need a course correction. This sets them apart from House Republicans at this stage of 2018 and Democrats in 2010, who were both slow to recognize they would suffer blowout defeats that cost them their majorities.