The Democratic left is in revolt against the party and its leaders. “They need to wake up and pay attention to what people actually want.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/21/us/politics/democratic-party-midterms.html Energized to take on President Trump, these voters are also seeking to remake their own party as a ferocious — and ferociously liberal — opposition force. And many appear as focused on forcing progressive policies into the midterm debate as they are on defeating Republicans. For Rachel Conner, the 2018 election season has been a moment of revelation. A 27-year-old social worker, Ms. Conner voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primaries, spurning the more liberal Bernie Sanders, whom many of her peers backed. But Ms. Conner changed course in this year’s campaign for governor, after concluding that Democrats could only win with more daring messages on issues like public health and immigration. And so on a recent Wednesday, she enlisted two other young women to volunteer for Abdul El-Sayed, a 33-year-old advocate of single-payer health care running an uphill race in Michigan to become the country’s first Muslim governor. “They need to wake up and pay attention to what people actually want,” Ms. Conner said of Democratic leaders. “There are so many progressive policies that have widespread support that mainstream Democrats are not picking up on, or putting that stuff down and saying, ‘That wouldn’t really work.’” Voters like Ms. Conner may not represent a controlling faction in the Democratic Party, at least not yet. But they are increasingly rattling primary elections around the country, and they promise to grow as a disruptive force in national elections as younger voters reject the traditional boundary lines of Democratic politics. Energized to take on President Trump, these voters are also seeking to remake their own party as a ferocious — and ferociously liberal — opposition force. And many appear as focused on forcing progressive policies into the midterm debate as they are on defeating Republicans. The impact of these activists in the 2018 election has been limited but revealing: Only about a sixth of Democratic congressional nominees so far have a formal affiliation with one of several important insurgent groups. Fifty-three of the 305 candidates have been endorsed by the Justice Democrats, the Working Families Party, the Progressive Change Campaign and Our Revolution, organizations that have helped propel challenges to Democratic incumbents. But the voters who make up the ascending coalition on the left have had an outsize effect on the national political conversation, driving the Democrats’ internal policy debates and putting pressure on party leaders unseen in previous campaigns. Mark Brewer, a former longtime chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said “progressive energy” was rippling across the state. But Mr. Brewer, who backs Gretchen Whitmer, a former State Senate leader and the Democratic front-runner for governor, said Michigan Democrats were an ideologically diverse bunch and the party could not expect to win simply by running far to the left. “There are a lot of moderate and even conservative Democrats in Michigan,” Mr. Brewer cautioned. “It’s always been a challenge for Democrats to hold that coalition together in the general election.” Progressive activists have already upended one major election in Michigan, derailing a former federal prosecutor, Pat Miles, who was running for attorney general with the support of organized labor, by endorsing another lawyer, Dana Nessel, who litigated against Michigan’s gay marriage ban, at a party convention. In more solidly Democratic parts of the country, younger progressives have battered entrenched political leaders, ousting veteran state legislators in Pennsylvania and Maryland and rejecting, in upstate New York, a congressional candidate recruited by the national party. In Maryland, Democrats passed over several respected local officials to select Ben Jealous, a former N.A.A.C.P. president and an ally of Mr. Sanders who backs single-payer health care, as their nominee for governor. And in a climactic upset in New York last month, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old Democratic socialist, felled Representative Joseph Crowley, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. With about two months left in primary season, a handful of races remain where restive liberals could flout the Democratic establishment, demolishing archaic party machinery or pressuring Democrats in moderate areas to tack left. Beyond Mr. El-Sayed, there are also insurgents contesting primaries for governor in Florida and New York, for Senate in Delaware and for a smattering of House seats in states including Kansas, Massachusetts and Missouri. The pressure from a new generation of confrontational progressives has put Democrats at the precipice of a sweeping transition, away from not only the centrist ethos of the Bill Clinton years but also, perhaps, from the consensus-oriented liberalism of Barack Obama. Less than a decade ago, Mr. Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, derided the “professional left” for making what he suggested were preposterous demands — like pressing for “Canadian health care.” That attitude now appears obsolete, on matters well beyond health policy. Corey Johnson, the progressive speaker of the New York City Council, who supported Mr. Crowley over Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, urged Democrats to recognize the intensity of “anger, fear and disappointment from people in our own party,” especially those new to the political process. “They’re young, and a lot of them are folks that weren’t around or weren’t engaged when Obama ran for the first time,” Mr. Johnson, 36, said. “So this is their moment of: Let’s take our country back.” In a source of relief to Democratic officials, the millennial-infused left has left a lighter mark in moderate areas where Republicans are defending their congressional majorities, and where bluntly left-wing candidates could struggle to win. In House races, Democrats have mainly picked nominees well to the left of center, but to the right of Mr. Sanders and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. Across most of the approximately 60 Republican-held districts that Democrats are contesting, primary voters have chosen candidates who seem to embody change — many of them women and minorities — but who have not necessarily endorsed positions like single-payer health care and abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. Some national Democrats remain skeptical that voters are focused on specific policy demands of the kind Mr. El-Sayed and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez have championed. Former Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland, a left-of-center Democrat who ran for president in 2016, suggested the party wants “new leaders and fresh ideas” more than hard-left ideology. “Sometimes that may be filled by a leader who calls herself a Democratic socialist, and sometimes it’s not,” said Mr. O’Malley, reflecting on the political convulsion that touched his home state. “Sometimes it’s with a young person. Sometimes it’s with a retiree. Sometimes it’s with a vet.” Several crucial Democratic victories since 2016 have also come with avowedly moderate standard-bearers, such as Senator Doug Jones of Alabama and Representative Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, who won grueling special elections. And unlike hard-liners on the right, Democratic activists have not contested Senate primaries in conservative-leaning states where the majority is at stake, allowing centrists to run unimpeded in Arizona and Tennessee. Yet among Democratic stalwarts, there is a sometimes-rueful recognition that a cultural gulf separates them from the party’s next generation, much of which inhabits a world of freewheeling social media and countercultural podcasts that are wholly unfamiliar to older Democrats. Evan Nowlin, a writer and barista supporting Mr. El-Sayed, said he had been motivated to volunteer by a podcast hosted by The Intercept, a left-leaning news site that has intensively covered challenges to the Democratic establishment. Mr. Nowlin, a soft-spoken 26-year-old who supported Mr. Sanders in 2016, said the traditional Democratic leadership had plainly failed to inspire the country. “I think they’re generally spineless,” he said. In some instances, the party’s rebels may be too brazen even for some of the candidates they have supported. The gradations of Democratic revolution were on display at an event in Brooklyn Tuesday celebrating the Working Families Party: Cynthia Nixon, the actor running in a September primary against Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a more moderate Democrat, drew cheers hailing Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democratic socialists. But Mr. Jealous, the Maryland nominee for governor, who is supported by Working Families and addressed the event, was warier of the socialist label. After embracing Ms. Nixon on stage but not quite endorsing her, Mr. Jealous chuckled at a question about the resurrection of Democratic socialism as a political identity. “I’m a venture capitalist,” he said, noting his work as an investor. “I’m kind of like the last person to ask.” In Michigan, however, Mr. El-Sayed is counting on a mood of ideological ambition to decide his primary: He remains an underdog, facing a well-funded rival in Ms. Whitmer, who is backed by powerful labor unions like the United Auto Workers. She has led in recent polls, while a third candidate, Shri Thanedar, a wealthy wild card, has complicated the race. Aiming to build momentum, Mr. El-Sayed will campaign later this month with Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, to whom he linked himself in generation and political outlook. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also campaigned in Kansas Friday for liberal House candidates and was slated for an event over the weekend for a primary challenger to a Democratic incumbent in Missouri, William Lacy Clay. “The rise of somebody like Alexandria seems kind of obvious to somebody in our generation,” Mr. El-Sayed said in an interview, casting the moment in grand terms: “The machine, whether it is on the right or on the left, has assented to this broken system of corporate politics, and I think people are real frustrated about that.” That mind-set unnerves Democratic veterans like Mr. Brewer, the former party chairman, in a state where they have long struggled to overcome a Republican machine aligned with the business community. Mr. Trump’s slim victory there exposed divisions between the national Democratic Party and many of the white union members on whose votes Michigan Democrats rely, underscoring Democrats’ tenuous position in 2018. But within deep-blue precincts where Democratic insurgency appears strongest, talk of accommodating the center is in short supply. In Massachusetts, where several incumbent House Democrats are facing feisty challenges, Michelle Wu, a 33-year-old member of the Boston City Council, said voters are demanding leaders who share their intense alarm about economic and racial inequality. Defying the local machine, she recently endorsed Ayanna Pressley, a fellow council member, in a primary against Representative Michael Capuano, a long-serving liberal. “People want to believe we can take our own future into our hands,” Ms. Wu said. (Article has further pictures, diagrams, and links)
The price the dems are paying for abandoning the working class last time around is that the socialists are scooping them up. Biden and Bubba would not have made that mistake. Biden thinks he is going to start campaigning and recapture that old heart-of-america working class versus the che guevera approach. But most of these lefties are so newly minted that they dont really know obama or biden or hillary. They sort of know bernie because he has never stopped campaigning since the last election. If I were Usual Tard or Tony Tard - individuals who are concerned only about party politics- I would be happy as a clam at high tide to see this civil war in the dem party getting uglier by the day. And local district wins for the ultra-lefties only make it worse for the dems because it pushes their national candidates further and further into loon land. However, all this commie stuff is not good for the country. So those who are Americans have more to worry about than just party politics which is the limited scope of the tards.
The mistake the democratic party is making is in the thinking that this very vocal, very active fringe element of the far left has the numbers to actually make a difference. While the media does everything they can to make this lunatic fringe look larger in strength and number than they really are, when the actual votes get counted I doubt it will push them over the top. For every radical that shows up to vote there are those more mainstream democrats who will just stay home.
Extreme liberals are not going to take over the Democrat Party anytime soon! Do you really believe Hillary Clinton and other entrenched party leaders are just going to roll over and die? Progressives which is the term Socialists, Communists and Islamists hide behind is only supported ay a narrow fringe of the most extreme liberals out there! Bernie Sanders has a number of young people hoodwinked with his free tuition and other BS! However, they have to live in the real world. Find jobs to support themselves and their families at some point! Boy, are they in for a rude awakening! Even Democrats acknowledge the Trump tax cuts benefit them and they see they have more monies in their wallets! Lies only go so far until, they are are exposed! That is why we have the Walkaway Movement within the Democrat Party of their voters Walking Away and leaving the Democrat Party for good! After the November 8, 2016 elections, I got calls from friends, all liberals, all Democrats telling me that they voted for Donald Trump! My jaw almost dropped in disbelief! Now, I did not ask them knowing they are all Democrats and liberals but, they told me on their own! When all is said and done, those still in the Democrat Party will repudiate the most extreme liberals who call themselves progressive! That you can take to the bank!
As discussed before, the "progressives" will not allow the dnc to keep their superdelegate process wherein the dnc gives away the power to dnc duds in advance. Bernie and his follow-ons will not allow that especially after the way it screwed him last time. They will not even start down that road. It is a non-starter. Otherwise they will go third party or some elements will and in close elections as many seem to be in recent history, a handful of votes can make a lot of difference. I know that many are saying that they would not be stupid enough to divide the party and ensure a republican win- but I dont believe that. This is bernie's last hurrah, and the socialist are looking to cement their status as a for-real player in national politics even if they lose- and they hate the dnc more than republicans because republicans may have won but they did not knife the progressives in the back- the dnc did that- and the socialists know it.
You know I used to underestimate the far left but now I’m keeping an eye on it. Millennials are an interesting cohort in that they organize and communicate in ways previous generations aren’t used to. The Florida teens that were in the Stoneman Douglas shooting have registered thousands of young people since the shooting. That’s impressive and it’s not on many people’s radar. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article215169905.html My point is these kids aren’t stupid. They know they are getting saddled with all kinds of debt both from college and inherited federal debt. Nothing turn boys and girls into men and women like money. So, yeah, I’m watching this group because they have motivation we haven’t seen since the greatest generation.
Progressives only role are as spoilers. Once, they come out as Socialists, Communists or Islamists, they lose voters. Most Americans reject their extreme agenda seeing the mess Venezuela, North Korea, Cuba and even European countries like France, Italy and now Germany overrun by migrants and terrorists and their economies in shambles!