The Democratic Party is a political party.
Democratic Party (United States) . In 1912 , Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate in the Progressive ( `` Bull Moose '' ) Party , leading to a switch of political platforms between the Democratic and Republican Party and Woodrow Wilson being elected as the first fiscally progressive Democrat . In the 115th Congress , following the 2016 elections , Democrats are the opposition party , holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate . The Republican Party , commonly referred to as the GOP ( abbreviation for Grand Old Party ) , is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States , the other being its historic rival , the Democratic Party .