The Democrats have a bit of an extremism problem.
This New Yorker piece shows the contortions Democrat candidates are going through to distance themselves from the radical wing that is quickly taking center stage in the Democratic Party, following a couple of Democratic Senate candidates around and watching them dog-paddle toward the center.
Example: Maggie Hassan on the campaign trail in New Hampshire:
Hassan made a point of stressing that all her accomplishments for veterans had been bipartisan. She is not one to traffic in warnings about the Republicans having become a far-right, democracy-threatening party. Protecting our democracy is the seventeenth and last item on her campaign Web site’s list of priorities, after, for example, standing with law enforcement, lowering taxes, and assisting small businesses. “Supporting those who serve is not a Democratic or Republican issue,” she said. “It’s an obligation that should unite all Americans.” The audience applauded. She spoke for a few minutes about her father, who was a Second World War veteran. “My father served in the 76th Infantry Division, the Liberty Bell Division,” she said. “He survived the Battle of the Bulge. He told me a lot about how they struggled in the freezing cold. They were fighting for the world to be free. They showed the world that, when Americans are united, we can do anything. Dad would ask me and my siblings at breakfast, ‘What are you doing for freedom today?’ ”
The message: Democrats are feeling the heat of a populace that, outside the crazy blue cores of some of our major cities, just isn't feeling the Bern.
And the writer, Nicholas Lemann, asks plaintively:
How can this be? Aren’t things looking O.K. for the Democrats right now, what with the political bounty bestowed by the Supreme Court’s highly unpopular decision revoking the constitutional right to abortion, the extremist shenanigans of Trump and other Republicans, the drop in gas prices, the receding of unpopular pandemic restrictions, and the evident end of public intramural Democratic squabbling, symbolized by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act? People who do politics for a living have to be ruthlessly realistic, and here is what they see if they are Democrats. Twenty years ago, many Democrats looked at demographic trends and foresaw a bright future for their party as the natural home of an increasingly diverse population. The election and reëlection of Barack Obama, in which record numbers of Black Americans voted, appeared to confirm this. Then, beginning with the 2016 election, it became obvious that this picture had been too rosy. The completely surprising success of Bernie Sanders and Trump, both of whom had initially looked like crank candidates, showed that many voters in both parties were deeply dissatisfied with the political system. Signs of nonwhite voters defecting from the Democrats started to appear in 2016, and have continued since then.
Now, readers in New Hampshire might be thinking "Hey, wait a minute - Maggie Hassan was re-elected in 2022! She is not up for re-election for another four years!"
And you'd be right. The article is from almost three years ago - when Democrats were trying to cope with Joe Biden's rapidly-unraveling legacy, but the notion of a Donald Trump re-election still seemed a little preposterous.
So this isn't a new problem.
But the rise of the Democratic Socialists in the Democratic Party, with Zohran Mamdani the likely next mayor of New York and Omar "Lenin Vibes" Fateh likely to do the same in Minneapolis, is giving Republicans "opportunity" vibes:
The National Republican Congressional Committee — the party’s arm for House races — was also quick to label Mamdani as “antisemitic socialist radical Zohran Mamdani,” doubling down on a criticism of his vocal opposition to Israel that dominated the contentious primary. Pictured next to Mamdani in the NRCC’s graphics were his “friends” — three battleground House Democrats who represent districts neighboring New York City, none of whom endorsed him in the primary.
One of those Democratic members — Laura Gillen, who flipped a district on Long Island in 2024 — rushed to separate herself from Mamdani.
In a Wednesday morning statement, Gillen called Mamdani “too extreme to lead New York City” and “the absolute wrong choice for New York,” distancing herself from the state lawmaker ahead of what is likely to be a competitive reelection race.
It's going to be interesting watching Democrats from outside the party's Blue inner-metro core run against the party's new AOC "rizz"; New York in particular has seen an outbreak of Republican voting as voters outside the five boroughs get weary of the city's decay and overwhelming tax burden.
Here in Minnesota, it's going to be particularly interesting watching Angie Craig - the Second District congresswoman widely seen as the front-runner for the Senate seat currently held by the retiring Tina Smith - walk that tightrope. She represents a half-suburban, half-rural district - so she spends every campaign season running campaigns spots showing her off-roading in a gas-guzzling jeep and meeting with blue-collar rural Minnesotans in out of the way stores and bars. Now, she'll be running statewide with an urban base that's falling in line behind the overt socialist Fateh.
She'll be aided, of course, by a Twin Cities media that replies "off what" when the Democrats say "jump", which will help.
But the gyrations are going to be fascinating.
