DNC official Lindy Li says she encountered “intense backlash, calls for removal over Hegseth’s comments,”

Lindy Li, a prominent driving force in the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is facing intense backlash from members of her own party after she expressed support for Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary.

She said her position has sparked a level of intra-party hostility that has surprised her so much that some have called for her to leave the Democratic Party altogether.

Li, a Democratic strategist, served as both Vice President Harris’ deputy and a member of the DNC’s national fundraising committee, a membership that she said requires raising “millions of dollars” on behalf of Democratic candidates. She also appeared on the air almost every day to promote Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign.

Li said what is happening to her underscores the party’s broader attitude of finger-pointing and internal finger-pointing even after major election losses.

In that regard, she appeared on NewsNation’s “Morning in America” ​​over the weekend and offered what she described as “low-key support” to Hegseth, Li told Fox News Digital on Monday. The two share their alma mater, Princeton University, and appeared simultaneously on “Fox & Friends” this fall.

When asked about his nomination on Sunday, Li told host Markie Martin: “I actually think he’s a pretty good guy.”

Lindy Li speaks on “Fox & Friends Weekend” after the 2024 elections. (Fox News)

“You might be looking for someone to oppose the nomination, but I actually have personal contact with (Hegseth),” she said, adding, “because I was on Fox and Friends — I met Pete, he’s mine.” Fellow Princeton native.”

Li repeatedly refused to answer questions about Hegseth’s path to confirmation amid allegations of alcohol abuse and sexual misconduct. Hegseth has denied any wrongdoing.

Still, the barrage of criticism continued, ranging from party leaders to public voices within the party urging her to resign or be “fired” on social media and in text messages reviewed by Fox News Digital. which Li made fun of because she, in her current capacity, is not on any DNC payroll. (A Democratic strategist and fundraiser, she has raised millions of dollars in their respective presidential campaigns for both Presidents Biden and Harris and has appeared on television countless times. Her family has also donated buildings, including a church in the Philadelphia area.)

Still, Li said, the criticism has caused her to question, to some extent, her loyalty to the very party for which she raised millions of dollars in the 2024 election cycle alone.

“I’m not some random donor. I’m one of the biggest, if not the biggest, Asian American fundraisers on the Democratic side,” she said.

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Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Harris speaks at a rally in Houston on October 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Instead, Li said she viewed the impact of the rather innocuous comment as a “microcosm of what’s wrong with the Democratic Party” by “not allowing dissent and criticism.”

She said this reinforces the contention of some factions within the Democratic Party: that the leadership has learned the wrong lessons after its defeats in the House, Senate and in the 2024 presidential election. Instead of having an open dialogue with the public about their missteps, they have become more assertive about intra-party blame and recrimination.

Li described a “vindictive” attempt by some leaders to devalue her support and the millions she had raised on behalf of her party.

She also took aim at decisions by some Democratic leaders to reinforce the idea of ​​identity politics, a strategy most notably championed by outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison.

Harrison, whose leadership role ends in February, has sharply rejected critics within the party who had urged her to take a different path after her resounding losses in 2024.

He also used a speech last week to reject the idea that Democrats need to abandon their “identity politics,” despite criticism that embracing those issues may have led to their losses in key swing states.

Li said she and others think this is part of the problem.

“Harrison is asking us to increase identity politics. And I think that’s a counterproductive strategy,” Li said in the interview.

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Vice President Harris and President Biden (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin/File)

“It’s just crazy,” she said. “If you want an explanation for why they lost, this is it,” Li added, taking aim at what she called the Democratic Party’s “purity tests” and the Democrats’ “purge.” out of step or not adhering to the party line.

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In the meantime, Li said she has no shortage of options as she weighs what a future role in the Democratic Party might look like, or whether she even wants to stick around.

“I think I’m too big to be completely expelled from the party,” Li said of her contributions to the DNC. “The leadership knows this.”

“People from Trump’s team have already reached out to me to see if I would be willing to move,” Li added. “So I’m not an orphan, you know? And I know people are actively trying to recruit me.”