For weeks establishment Democrats have been pushing back against the narrative of the Democratic Socialists of America and what I call extreme progressivism, desperate to distance themselves from slogans like “defund the police” and “abolish ICE,” and candidates who attended pro-Palestinian rallies. With Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s narrow win over state Rep. Francesca Hong, a member of the DSA, in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary, it looks like that pushback has worked — but only to a degree.
Indeed, Hong’s losing effort to become the Democratic Party’s nominee in the race for Wisconsin governor should be seen as a victory for commonsense Democrats. But it does not mean that what I have come to call extreme progressivism has left the Democratic Party. Not by a long shot.
Hong’s losing effort to become the Democratic Party’s nominee in the race for Wisconsin governor should be seen as a victory for commonsense Democrats.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a progressive, won a hard-fought primary for U.S. Senate and is joining other progressives such as Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed; New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the progressive and DSA candidates he endorsed; and DSA member Melat Kiros in Colorado.
Responding to Mamdani’s rise, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told The Associated Press in June, “The effort to nationalize New York is going to fail. What’s happening in New York will be really irrelevant by the time of the elections in November.” Talk about a comment that did not age well.
Fast-forward six weeks to El-Sayed’s win in Michigan, and establishment types have changed their tune. Instead of lamenting a progressive takeover, they are all talking about what a big tent the Democratic Party is. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told The Hill, “Maybe we should make room for people with lots of different voices … I mean, people within the party can decide to agree or disagree with particular proposals.”
Meanwhile, the progressive left makes an easy target for Republicans, who are already painting progressive leaders as communists and socialists in the midterm elections. And the hits will keep coming.
But perhaps even more damaging to Democrats are the policies some progressive candidates want to push forward. While “Medicare for All” is a great campaign slogan, independent voters in Michigan are not likely to go all-in on giving up their employer-based healthcare for government-run healthcare. With Crowley’s narrow win, we already see signs that voters in Wisconsin may not feel sold on Hong’s position of “defunding the police as a first step towards abolishing the police.”
These are just a few examples of what Republicans will use in future elections — and why they will have a good chance of winning swing states that Democrats desperately need if the party continues to shift further left.
After the unprecedented mid-decade redistricting, Democrats’ dreams of a huge midterm wave election, with a pickup of 40 to 60 seats, were over. According to The Cook Political Report, there are only 18 toss-up races, 10 “lean Democrat” seats and 9 “lean Republican” seats. This means that a modern-day wave election would be a pickup of about 20 to 25 seats. In addition, Democrats need to pick up four Senate seats and keep all their current ones. This was unlikely before the primaries. Now, with more progressive and DSA nominees, it’s even more so.
This is not to say the Democrats are going to lose the House, but the goal of winning 20-plus seats is becoming a lot harder to achieve. And now, instead of expanding the map, they need to ensure a large enough win to have a governing majority that can get things done without ultraprogressives and DSA representatives.
As someone who watched President Donald Trump gut the Republican Party, I can tell you that the challenge Democrats face is a very different one. Trump has never had core values or principles and only ever cared about winning. That never seemed to bother the current group of elected Republicans, save a few.
The extreme progressives of the Democratic Party are principled, the aren’t moderating, and they don’t want a big tent. They want to control the tent. It is a tough choice for traditional Democrats to make, but if they do not stand up to extreme progressivism now, they will likely find themselves shut out in 2028.
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