In the immediate aftermath of last week’s New York Democratic Primaries, where two Democratic Socialists and a political opportunist, running on the coattails of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsement, emerged victorious, MAGA Trumpists decided to resurrect the Red Scare and McCarthyite “The Commies are coming. The Commies are coming” boogeyman in order to sway voters to cast ballots for Republicans in this years midterms.
Well, that strategy did not work when they tried to paint Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the other members of the Squad with the same brush when they ran and won their congressional seats, and it is probably not going to work now.
Now, while there is much to pause about a few of these primary victors, especially Maine Senate Candidate Graham Platner and his tatoos and relationships with women and Congressional Primary Winner Darializa Avila Chevalier, whose historically illiterate anti-Israel, defund the police, and screw Kamala Harris and Joe Biden posts are very concerning and made even Senator Bernie Sanders not endorse her, it is important to think about the whole political landscape as opposed to just New York City.
Going back to 2018, when Ocasio-Cortez and members of the squad prevailed in their House races, people need to remember that, in that year, now Senator Elissa Slotkin won her House race. So did now Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger. So did now New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill.
These historical facts show that center-left progressive Democratic Candidates play better in the less ultra-blue part of the country and, in many cases, are the majority builders, thrive in their service, go on to higher offices, and deliver forward legislation for their constituents.
Commenting on the victory of the three Mamdani-endorsed candidates, Third Way Communications Director Kate deGruyter wrote to Blog for Arizona:
“The DSA victories in New York City are evidence that the far left can pull off some big wins in deep blue places. But embracing radical DSA ideas is not a model for Democratic victories across the vast expanse of America, from the Hudson River to the Colorado.
The urgent task for the party is to flip seats from red to blue. Only the moderate wing has accomplished that, not just once but 50 times. The far left has not flipped one single red seat in the entirety of the Trump area. Instead, they turn seats held by progressives even bluer and hand Republicans admirers new ways to attack Democrats running far outside of the “Commie Corridor.”
Thankfully, we have strong candidates across battleground races who will put a check on Trump and stand up for voters suffering from high costs from his broken promises. When Democrats take back the House in November, it will be because moderates delivered the majority.”
Matters of State Strategies Vice President Matt Grodsky expressed similar sentiments in his comment to Blog for Arizona on the Democratic Socialists’ victories and the Republican reaction to it, saying:
“It’s always been their (Republicans’) playbook. New York is not AZ or other swing states, so until Democratic Socialists candidates start winning in those states, it’s a boogeyman talking point from the GOP that swing voters find stale. Independents across the board are turning on the GOP.”
Rachel Bitecofer, in an op-ed from her Substack on The Cycle, told readers:
“Let’s start with the obvious: America is not facing a socialism problem – we don’t even have paid maternity leave or universal health care!! America is facing a fascism threat.“
Bitecofer then correctly pointed out that Democratic Socialists, the ones who support Social Democracies like Western European ones like Denmark, the Netherlands, and Germany, are not Pure Socialist or Communist states but Capitalist ones “with a stronger welfare state, higher taxes, more labor protections, universal or near-universal social benefits, and a government more willing to intervene on behalf of ordinary people. That is social democracy. I prefer to call it regulated capitalism.”
What could possibly be wrong with any of that?
deGruyter, Bitecofer, and Grodsky are right.
Democrats need to be a big-tent party that forges governing coalitions between its Center-Pragmatic Progressive, Progressive, and Democratic Socialist wings that will lift all people up and move the nation forward. Candidates and elected public servants who take a “My way or the highway” approach or embrace positions like defunding the police should be frowned on.
They also need to push back on the Republican boogeyman narrative by framing the choice this way.
Do you want a candidate who works for you and will work to expand health care, increase your wages, promote community safety, and make life better for them and their children, or the candidate who works for the rich, suppresses your life span, drives the national debt up, and espouses white nationalist-fascist-xenophobic venom while shielding pedophiles and January 6 domestic terrorists from the law?
This is really not a tough call for voters when the choice is framed like that.
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