Democrats performed better in last year's midterm elections than many observers had predicted, managing to hold the Senate and only lose the House by a narrow margin. Still, one high-profile member of the party admitted that it is in serious trouble.  

According to the Daily Caller, former Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan conceded that point last week during an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Ryan says his party's brand is now "toxic"

TONIGHT: @FrancesHaugen, @BariWeiss and @TimRyan join @BillMaher for #RealTime @HBO!

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"The Democratic brand, in so many areas of the country, is toxic," Ryan said. He then went on to bring up an example from his home state.

"There is a woman who ran for Supreme Court in Ohio, sitting Supreme Court justice," the former congressman recalled.

"Two years ago, she ran and won, got on the court, you didn’t have to put a D or R by your name. There’s a county in southern Ohio, she got 51%," he said.

CRT issues

"Two years later, Republicans changed the law, you had to put a D or R behind your name. Same woman, same court, same message, same candidate," he continued.

"[She l]ost, and in that county got 31% instead of the 51% she got when it was just, do I like that candidate?” Ryan explained.

However, Ryan went on to assert that the situation wasn't entirely due to Republicans tactics, noting that some Democrats "take the bait" on divisive issues like critical race theory.

The former lawmaker said that most parents want public education to focus on things like "reading, writing, arithmetic."

Ryan decisively lost Senate race to Repu

What's more, he believes that the more Democrats discuss critical race theory, the less time they have to focus on pocket book issues that voters care about.

For his part, Maher said that Republican complaints about critical race theory are "partly true" since parents resent those who teach their children that America is "evil," adding that the rhetoric has "gone too far."

Ryan faced off last year in Ohio's Senate race against Republican challenger J.D. Vance. Vance won, securing 53.28% of the vote to Ryan's 46.72%.

What's more, Republicans managed to flip a number of House seats in deep blue states like New York and California.