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By Mori Rothman and Yasmeen Qureshi

JEFF GREENFIELD: On a Sunday in February, more than a hundred Democrats crowd into a home in the Philadelphia suburbs to listen to their Congressman talk about the state of their party and the nation.

40-year-old Brendan Boyle is in his second term representing northeast Philadelphia and suburban Montgomery County.

Its something of a political family affair. Brendans younger brother, Kevin, is a 37-year-old State Representative in his fourth term.

If youre looking for whats troubling Democrats, this is a good place to start: Mayfair. Not the tony London neighborhood, but northeastern Philadelphia, a working class neighborhood with a tradition of big pluralities for Democrats, a tradition that was broken last fall.

Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama easily won the Mayfair neighborhood. But Hillary Clinton carried it by a lot less, which was one factor in her narrow loss in Pennsylvania.

KEVIN BOYLE: Hillary didnt really sort of offer any economic plan that she really hammered home. Donald Trump was talking about bringing back industrial jobs to blue collar America and thats what people cared about in my area.

BRENDAN BOYLE: There is a real disconnect within the Democratic Party between the elites who make the decisions and the vast majority of people who are regular Democratic voters, and what the elites care about versus what most people here in Philadelphia who are casting Democratic ballots care about.

KEVIN BOYLE: The hardcore social left are saying we cant reach out to white working class voters, because somehow that would be racist. I think that is absolutely crazy to say that, because a progressive economic platform could unify workers, it could unify white workers with Latino workers, with African American workers, with Asian workers. Because at the end of the day what will drive the Democratic Party back into the majority is when Joe Smith in northeast Philadelphia, who voted for Barack Obama twice but then voted for Donald Trump in this last election, when he makes his determination as to who hes going to vote for, to me it always comes down to economics.

JEFF GREENFIELD: Glenn Clark is one of those Obama voters who went for Trump. Hes a longtime firefighter and the co-owner of this bar, Pub 36.

GLENN CLARKE: This is working class neighborhood, blue collar, more or less city employees.

JEFF GREENFIELD: So youre talking cops, firefighters, civil servants.

GLENN CLARKE: Yes.

JEFF GREENFIELD: Add a good number of construction and factory workers, and you have a neighborhood, where, like many around the country, a dramatic loss of votes cost the Democrats dearly.

So explain to me why a Democrat from a blue collar Philadelphia neighborhood voted for Donald Trump?

GLENN CLARKE: Served in the Navy, could not support Hillary, because of Benghazi, didnt trust her. Also dont trust a lot of the politicians today. Donald Trump has four years as a non-politician to make a difference.

JEFF GREENFIELD: For Brendan and Kevin Boyle, Trumps showing is a political threat and a personal wound.

BRENDAN BOYLE: Our dad came as an immigrant from Ireland when he was 19. He spent a lot of time cutting lawns and trying to get into a union. Eventually he was able to do that, was a warehouseman for Acme Markets for 25 years.

JEFF GREENFIELD: That that kind of security of union jobs and the kind of comfort that brought, thats not around much anymore much less, much less around. Is that an accurate perception?

BRENDAN BOYLE: Yes, thats completely accurate. Actually people feel more anxious than ever before and even worse than that is theyre really questioning whether the American dream still exists.

JEFF GREENFIELD: One of the symbols of the jobs that arent around anymore is the Nabisco plant

KEVIN BOYLE: You used to actually be able to smell the cookies being made where were sitting right now, we were that close.

BRENDAN BOYLE: So that plant existed for generations and was profitable. For a company that was profitable, still employed 320 people, and these were not minimum wage jobs. These were good family sustaining jobs. Well, it turns out Nabisco ends up getting bought by a different company. They decide that theyre going to layoff completely close the plant even though its profitable, because theyre building a brand new one in Monterrey, Mexico, where they can employ people for far less.

JEFF GREENFIELD: And which presidential candidate called out Nabisco for closing multiple plants?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Nabisco closes a plant, they just announced a couple of days ago, in Chicago, and theyre moving the plant to Mexico!

JEFF GREENFIELD: To help reestablish the partys connection with working class voters. Brendan started the Blue Collar Caucus in Washington, now with 26 members, to push for higher wages and new manufacturing jobs.

HOLLY OTTERBEIN: They rail against trade deals, they have proposed bills that would make college free for students that get at least a 3.0 GPA

JEFF GREENFIELD: Holly Otterbein profiled the Boyle brothers for Philadelphia Magazine.

HOLLY OTTERBEIN: At the same time, there are parts of the Boyle brothers agenda that disappoints progressives in the party. In the past, Brendan has voted for pro-life legislation, although now hes been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and has kind of changed his mind on that issue. So that raises the question that I think some progressives in the party have, which is that If we try to go more aggressively for the white working class, do we have to sacrifice these things that are very important to the party? But a lot of Democrats are not convinced the party can or should rebuild its strength with the white working class. At last years national convention in Philadelphia, the party was more ethnically diverse than ever before, and social issues like abortion, gay rights, and gun control were front and center.

JEFF GREENFIELD: Joe DeFelice chairs Philadelphias Republican Party.

JOE DEFELICE: Trump just found a way to connect with them, and he was saying things that they believed in. And its strange to think right that a billionaire from New York City can connect with, you know, working class people in northeast Philadelphia. I mean being from New York, spending time in Philadelphia. He understands the neighborhoods, understands the people here.

JEFF GREENFIELD: DeFelice says the leftward drift of Democrats helped push working class voters into Trumps camp.

JOE DEFELICE: Look, Im not going to tell them how to do their jobs, Im a, Im actually happy that theyre going further and further to the left, makes my job a little bit easier // But if they continue to push like some of these leftist policies with regards to immigration or whatever, I think you know, were going to continue to keep those people.

JEFF GREENFIELD: Which is why the Boyles say Democrats need to be open to more moderate approaches on social issues.

BRENDAN BOYLE: We cant end up becoming the worst caricature that talk radio on the right says we are.

KEVIN BOYLE: I dont think theres any question that the Democratic Party is a pro-choice party, and well always support a womans right to choose, and its part of our party platform and should certainly stay that way. With that said, in Appalachia, the areas where Donald Trump was winning two to one, if we were running, or if we were putting litmus tests on the sort of candidates that we were recruiting. I think wed find it very challenging to keep those seats or to win those seats.

BRENDAN BOYLE: Now, Im clearly for stronger gun regulations. I sat in, participated in the sit-in with John Lewis on the House floor for 25 hours after the Orlando massacre, because I feel so strongly about the gun issue. That said, if we have that as a litmus test, were already in the deepest minority since 1928, well be even further in the minority.

JEFF GREENFIELD: Walking that tightrope is no easy challenge, especially when voters like Glenn Clarke see a potential champion in President Trump.

GLENN CLARKE: He spoke of jobs. He spoke of safety, security. He wants to make America great again. And anybody thats hoping that he fails cant truly call themselves an American.

JEFF GREENFIELD: So how do you convince skeptical white working class folks that, that they really ought to take this to heart.

KEVIN BOYLE: I think its about authenticity. When were the party of the little guy, and I know that sounds simplistic, but when people internalize that, I think that we do much better in elections, and thats what we have to be true to.

BRENDAN BOYLE: I really believe our party is at its best when were the Robert Kennedy coalition, that we are the party of blue collar workers, of all races, of all backgrounds, that we are the party of those who were left out and deeply believe in the American dream and want to achieve it. That is who the Democratic Party is in our soul, that is the best to win elections, but its also the best to govern. If were going to achieve progress in these areas, we need to it needs to be everyone and that includes white working class voters.

Read more here:
Democrats aim to reclaim the working class vote - PBS NewsHour