Democratic leaders move to counter socialist successes

For the past decade, Democratic progressives have regularly challenged the party’s establishment, with intermittent success. This year, they are doing much better, as the renewed energy on the party’s left has produced several highly publicized recent victories by Democratic Socialists. There are several reasons: a feeling that Democratic leaders have failed to challenge President Donald Trump strongly enough, a reaction to Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians, and the political system’s continuing failure to deal with the country’s growing income inequality.

Whatever the reasons, their triumphs could pose a threat to both Democratic hopes of sweeping successes in November and their ability to manage the House next year if they succeed. Progressive challenges over growing income inequality emerged in Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ unsuccessful 2016 and 2020 presidential bids. But they’ve gained added impetus this year from Trump’s failure to redeem his promises to cut prices.

Meanwhile, resentment against Democratic party leaders and opposition to Israel’s Gaza and West Bank policies have exacerbated the progressive successes.

In a sense, some successes by left-wing candidates in deep blue cities and districts are nothing new. Milwaukee elected a Socialist congressman as far back as 1910 and three Socialist mayors. New York City had a left-wing congressman in the mid-20th Century whom foes labeled as akin to a Communist. The current House already has a half-dozen leftist Democrats.

But the extent of their recent successes — and, in some cases, their more extreme positions — threaten to hamper Democratic congressional leaders next year like the Tea Party has bedeviled the GOP. Several primary victors say they are unsure about backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, if Democrats win control, just like some newly elected members initially withheld support from Nancy Pelosi after the Democrats’ 2018 victory.

But the more immediate Democratic challenge is to counter the effort by Republican leaders to label recent Socialist victories as a Communist threat to American democracy in a modern-day version of the early Cold War era’s “red scare.”

“I think it’s the biggest threat to our nation there is — maybe since our founding, that includes World War I, World War II, Sept. 11, it includes the Pearl Harbor attack,” said Trump, never one for subtlety.

He has raised the issue in every recent speech, declaring, “They use the word Social Democrat because it sounds so nice, but it's really Communism you're talking about.”

Like much of what Trump says, that’s untrue; unlike Communists, Democratic Socialists believe in democracy. What’s really happening here, some analysts say, is less ideological than tactical.

“The current factor driving many Democrats to support left-wing candidates isn’t ideology, but a revolt against the party’s leadership and political establishment more broadly,” independent pollster Elliott Morris concluded after analyzing recent primary returns, plus speeches and statements by some successful candidates.

And Erin Covey of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report noted that most leftist primary winners ran in heavily Democratic districts — three in New York City and one in Denver, for example. Democrats in more competitive districts are mainly choosing “center-left candidates,” she said.

Still, the potential spread of left-wing insurgencies to major swing states has spurred some party leaders to combine forces against them, lest they win primaries and jeopardize party chances in November by bolstering the Republican argument that the party is moving too far left. In both Michigan’s Senate race and Wisconsin’s gubernatorial contest, major Democratic hopefuls dropped out to head off their leftist rivals in contests where opposition to Israel has emerged as a major progressive issue.

In Michigan, polls showing Democratic Socialist Abdul El-Sayed leading the race for an open Democratic-held Senate seat prompted the withdrawal of state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who was running third behind El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, the establishment choice.

In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley withdrew from the governor’s race and backed Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, hoping to prevent the nomination of state Rep. Francesca Hong, a Socialist leading in recent polls.

Hong has also made Israel an issue, saying in an interview, "If Wisconsin is going to be a state that actually values human rights, then we have to ensure that we're supporting and fighting for the pro-Palestine movement.”

Some Socialist hopefuls are toning down some past statements. Hong, who in 2020 called for “defunding the police as a first step toward abolishing the police,” told CNN that, while she did not disavow that statement, she does not support “arbitrary cuts” to public safety budgets. In another CNN interview, El-Sayed also backed off a prior “defund the police” statement.

In New York, Democratic congressional primary victor Darializa Avila Chevalier deleted social media posts calling for abolishing police, seizing private property and questioning Israel’s right to exist. But she defended her attendance at a 2023 pro-Hamas rally and said she would consult community leaders before deciding whether to support Jeffries for speaker. Progressive forces recently suffered a major setback when oyster fisherman Graham Platner, the Maine Senate Democratic nominee, was forced to withdraw because of his personal baggage.

But they hope for major breakthroughs in next month’s Michigan and Wisconsin primaries. In a sense, however, these are preliminary skirmishes. 2028 is when the party’s presidential primary voters will definitively determine its future course.

Carl P. Leubsdorf, Tribune News Service