When racism and misogyny is on the upswing in an election, they fielded a black woman that was an early (the first?) dropout in the previous term's nomination race, and then vigorously courted the conservative vote via Liz Cheney for some gods unknown reason at the end of the campaign.

If democrat operatives aren't actively trying to sabotage the Democrat Party, I don't know how you interpret it. They'll trip on their own dicks and find someone even less likely to appeal to centrists and alienate leftists next go around, so the Christian Nationalist Party has half a chance.