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What is the state of the Democratic Party? What does its future look like? Those are questions we’ve been asking all week long as part of the series: The Road Ahead. 

We’ve heard the stats: Over 1,000 seats lost nationwide since 2009, more registered Independents than Democrats, and loss of control of the White House, the House, and the Senate.

So the question is how to rebuild? All week long we heard competing visions.

Senator Bernie Sanders told us that the party needs a complete overhaul: "There has to be a fundamental rethinking of the direction of the Democratic Party. My view, very strongly, is open the doors, get working people in, make it a 50-state party."

Andrea Jenkins, the first openly transgender African American women elected to public office, says that the party needs to shift its focus:

"I feel like the people who have been showing up consistently in majority numbers for the Democratic Party have been black women." 

Howard Dean called for his generation to move over: "Our most important age group is under 35. The kids, the young people under 35, those folks are going to choose a candidate." 

And Representative Keith Ellison, the deputy chair of the DNC, envisions a vast rebuilding of the state party apparatus: "My position is very simple: that the Democratic Party has gotten too into the targeting, the data analytics. It just needs to get back to listening to constituents." 

The direction of the party is currently being litigated inside the party itself. The Unity Reform Commission was formed in July 2016 at the Democratic National Convention, and is made up of Clinton appointees, Sanders appointees, and appointees of party chair Tom Perez.

Next week, the commission will meet for a final time, with plans to release recommendations in early January on how best to engage new voters, figure out the role of unpledged delegates, and increase participation in the presidential nominating process.

We spoke to both a Clinton appointee and a Sanders appointee about the issues they see in the party.

Jorge Neri, who was the Nevada state director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and is a Clinton appointee to the DNC Unity Reform Commission, is optimistic about the changes in the party.

Meanwhile, Nomiki Konst, who was a national surrogate for the Sanders campaign and also a member of the Unity Reform Commission, paints a picture of a party teetering on the brink of survival.

This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich