The Democratic Party is on the verge of extinction. The race between Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Tim Ryan for House minority leader was a proxy war for the future of the party. Democrats in Congress had a choice between a woman in her 70s from San Francisco and a man in his 40s from the industrial Midwest. Would they choose someone who has a known yet poor track record of experience or take a risk on someone new with no guarantee of a different outcome? More broadly, would members choose a leader who represents the so-called costal elites or the fly-over states?

Full disclosure: Ryan is my congressman, and I serve in the same state Senate seat he once occupied. We both represent an area that has been reliably blue for decades, fueled by the engine of working class union households. Now Ryan’s home county, and mine, has become ground zero for the disaffected Democrat. Trumbull County, Ohio, voted for a Republican president for the first time since Herbert Hoover. I can’t tell you how many times a constituent would say they felt Hillary Clinton “talked down” to them or Pelosi was out of touch. The same people who have voted for me and Congressman Ryan for more than a decade cast their vote for Donald Trump in 2016 because they felt abandoned and frankly insulted by the tone of national Democrats.