In the wake of the 2024 election loss, Democrats have grappled with fending off an onslaught of executive orders from the Trump administration while simultaneously trying to rebuild the party.

Some top Democrats, such as Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, have presented controversial ideas including spending money to primary incumbent Democrats to get fresh, new faces in office and challenge longstanding seniority. It’s part of a push to dismantle the old guard by bringing in leaders who will more forcefully stand up to the Trump administration.

Matthew Mobley Marcil, a 21-year-old Democrat, debated the merits of this effort on GBH News’ Politics IRL.

“We should be focused on electing people who are going to rebuild that trust with the American people who right now deeply distrust the Democratic Party,” he said.

Other panelists supported the idea of primarying certain Democrats, but said DNC officials shouldn’t be involved in that effort.

“It’s quite inappropriate, it’s a clear conflict of interest there,” Kaveesh Sinha Pathak, a 20-year-old Democrat.

“I feel like for too long, the Democratic Party has been focused on just electing Democrats in general. I think we need to focus on electing good Democrats who are going to represent the people,” Marcil added.

Among the panelists, the general consensus was that former President Joe Biden’s decision to run for reelection did a lot of harm, and having young people like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez take on leadership positions within the party would be a good move.

“I think there is a gap that needs to be filled for new generation voices. ... We want to see ourselves represented, and we want to have a young voice heard,” said 19-year-old Democrat Ela Gardiner.

A recent Harvard Youth poll shows just 23% of young voters age 18-29 approve of Democrats’ job in Congress, while 29% approve of the job Republicans are doing.

When asked what the party currently stands for, the young voters initially struggled to provide an answer.

“Democrats right now stand for being know-it-alls, which is not a good thing, right? We act like we know it all, we know better,” Pathak said. He said Democrats should instead “learn it all.”

Gardiner said the party stands for opportunity. “We are at a crossroads as to define what opportunity means and for who.”

Democrats are “trying to grasp the little bits and pieces of the progressive movement in America,” according to Bella Santos, a 22-year-old independent, who added that using parts of the progressive movement against Republicans isn’t working.

Overall, the panelists said moving forward, Democrats should have robust primaries, a more savvy social media presence and be responsive to the issues of everyday people.

Watch the full conversation by clicking the video at the top of the page.

In the Politics IRL video series, we give young voters the opportunity to sit face to face and talk openly about the topics that motivated them to vote — or not — in the 2024 general election. They choose what to discuss. We get to see their politics — in real life. If you are a young voter, or know of one who may want to participate in our series, please connect with lead producer Alexi Cohan via email at  alexi.cohan@gbh.org.