Bernie Sanders stood on a stage in front of a crowd of union workers inside the River Church Arena in Anaheim, Calif., demanding the Walt Disney Co. defend its billions and profits and its millions in salary for their CEO while some of their workers earn less than a living wage.
It was part of a barnstorming effort by the former presidential hopeful ahead of Tuesday’s primaries in California. Sanders also attended a rally in downtown Los Angeles supporting criminal justice reform, standing alongside progressive activists Shaun King and Patrisse Cullors (a Black Lives Matter co-founder).
Each event drew large crowds and activated an already hot progressive base ready to make their voices heard on social justice issues this election year.
From the outside, this appears to be a good thing for the Democrats; energized crowds filled with young people. But on the inside, the Democratic establishment worries about a disconnect that runs deep within the party: Progressives have the loudest voice, but not the openness to include moderate candidates and voters needed to oust Republicans in swing districts.
And it’s not just in California. Last month in Pittsburgh, two progressive candidates trounced two long-time incumbent state representatives in the Democratic primary — revealing a possible of simmering tidal wave of progressives overtaking moderate Democrats in primary contests.
Both insurgents — Summer Lee, who crushed long time state Rep. Paul Costa in the 34th District, and Sara Innamorato, who defeated Costa’s cousin, Dom Costa, in the 21st — were backed by the Democratic Socialists of America and Our Revolution, two energized progressive groups who have stepped up to champion candidates at every level of government to move the party left.
Both women ran on platforms similar to Sanders’ — advocating for a universal, single-payer healthcare system, opposition to fracking and free public education from pre-kindergarten through college.
Both men were moderate Democrats who fit their districts, but not the activists excited to turn up and vote against the system — an affirmation that the Democrats are embroiled in their own populist surge leftward.
So does this leftward lurch help Democrats win back the U.S. House and Senate? Will it have an effect down-ballot in state legislative bodies, where Democrats have lost well over 1,000 seats across the country since Barack Obama’s presidency began?
Conor Lamb’s special election win in suburban Pittsburgh in March was pitch perfect — but could he win a Democratic primary against a DSA or Sanders-backed progressive? And could such a DSA or Sanders clone win a general election out there?
The Democrats’ biggest challenge is internal: Their enthusiasm is left of center, but their path to the majority is smack-dab in the center, meaning to gain back the seats they lost in their pitch left between 2009-2016, they need to center themselves.
The Democrats need 23 seats to retake the House, The latest CBS News generic-ballot poll shows them with a five-point lead, a number that coincides with several other polls. This suggests the Democrats’ lead is shrinking after a series of primary contests across the country showing the more progressive candidates winning, winnowing their chances.
Their path forward is likely one filled with an economic message geared to localities, rather than a national race focused on impeachment or resistance.
If they make the latter choice, they likely lose the moderate mojo that had them upending 31 GOP seats in the midterms of 2006 and make them more like the Republicans in 1998, when it is widely believed voters sought to punish Republicans for their rhetorical overreach in their impeachment of Clinton.
In short, do the Democrats want to be the 2006 version of themselves, or the 1998 version of the Republicans?
