Tina Smith

Thursday on CNN’s “The Source,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) said too many in her party are “being part of the status quo and not independent minded.”

Anchor Kaitlan Collins said, “You mentioned how voters are feeling the anger over cost and being able to just afford everything. You know, it’s not just anger directed at the president in his party, though. There’s polls that showed nearly 6 in 10 Democrats and Democratic leaning independents think that the Democratic Party needs major changes, if not total reform. Is that something you agree with?

Smith said, “I actually do. I actually think that there are too many in my party that sort of go along to get along, that they are not really talking about making bigger changes. Voters see too many in my party as just being part of the status quo and not independent minded. And again, I think that is one of the reasons why our lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, won the primary in Minnesota, because she was seen as standing up to that. You know, I want to just say, in rural parts of this country and especially in the Midwest, there is a strong historical thread that is sort of anti-establishment, populist little guys against the big guys.”