The party may reclaim the US House and even Senate, but primary candidates are far from united on how to move forward
Across the country, in front yards and on main streets, at dairy breakfasts and inside breweries, voters are delivering a similar message to Democratic primary candidates: they’re tired of both parties, and sick of being ignored.
The Democratic party brand is bruised after its disastrous 2024 presidential loss. A botched review of the defeat by the Democratic National Committee, and a drawn-out process over releasing the so-called autopsy, created another round of handwringing over the party’s direction.
On doorsteps, though, the voters don’t bring up the autopsy, or the party’s brand, according to candidates nationwide. They want a party that will stand up to Trump, fight for their healthcare and housing, make life more affordable, rein in immigration agents, build up their schools, get the US out of war and lower gas prices, protect their jobs from AI, confront the climate crisis and prevent datacenters from coming in.
They weigh how to win back voters and regain power without dropping support for Israel or supporting actual progressive policies
Isn’t the message that progressives need to get in the game more? We’re looking pretty bad when it seems that progressives are not showing up for the primaries to put a progressive governor in office, or more congress members in the House, and Senate. Especially at the state level where positive change is more likely than it is federally right now.
Primary elections are the best chance we progressives have to put a left leaning candidate at the top of the ticket, especially since not a ton of people other than those passionate actually show up to vote.
When not even 1% of the state showed up to support the most progressive candidate on the ballot, it looks pretty bad imo. Ranked Choice voting surely would help a lot more with this, but I’m not excited by the fact that we seem to be just throwing in the towel to corporate backed moderates here.
What took them so fucking long?
Voters are not gonna reform the DNC, people need to quit pushing for Bernie and AOC. They are sheepdogs and are a huge part of the problem. They talk one thing then herd everyone back to supporting the status quo. The party is tone deaf and doesn’t listen to the will of their constituents.
No problem.
Amplify Bernie Sanders, Mamdani, and AOC, punt Schumer.
I want someone who’s pissed off and willing to put their money where their mouth is. I don’t want games, strongly worded letters, pointless victories. I want actual action and holding people culpable if they break the law. I want to feel like they care for people without billions. That integrity is important. I want them to tell Israel to fuck off. I want them to worry about things like housing, food, student debt. I want them to want to reign in if not outright dismantle ICE, punish bad cops, dismantle Citizens United. I want them to support age/term limits for all politicians including SCOTUS.
I doubt I’m alone in this.
They will replace Schumer with another version of him like they did with Jeffries
You see those two people in your party? Yeah Bernie and AOC? Fucking listen to them!
Hey! These bruises are just makeup!
Maybe they could, I dunno, be sincerely what they’ve been pretending to be for decades. You know, like the Republicans are doing now.
My question for the Democratic leadership is: Why can’t they find any decent candidates? Seriously: the Senate race against Susan Collins ought to be a Dem gimmie, and the best they can do is Graham Platner? I don’t even care if the dude is fully reformed and now a shining beacon of progressivism, there’s literally millions of alternatives without questionable histories. Where are all these angry pro-social, anti-war, climate enthusiasts when it’s time to put in the work to run against some Republican shitbird?
Where are all the Zihran Mamdanis and Kat Abughazalehs? Why wouldn’t Dan Osborn run as a Democrat?
Because that’s not who the Democrats represent… They don’t want progressive policies, they want to preserve existing power structures and norms. In any other society, or to anyone who has fucking eyes; this is called conservatism. In America conservatives are cartoon level bat shit crazy fucking lunatics, so it’s easy to mistake Democrat conservatism for progressivism.
No matter who wins the mid terms, nothing donnie2shits did will be undone, and no policies will be reversed. Rights will not be restored to those that have lost them and the dems will accuse you of “magical thinking” for expecting change to be possible
Well, given that the DNC backed an Independent candidate over Zohran Mamdani through the actual election, I think the question the DNC is asking is not “how do we find another Mamdani” but “how did we let Mamdani win?”.
“b-but we need unity. stop berating the democrats-” No. Between that New York race and the years of stonewalling progressives; and the complete lack of any party leadership in the last year and a half.
What about the blatant funneling of “dark money” funds into Chorus, an attempt by the Democrats to hijack the trusted online media landscape that they’d shunned through Biden’s term.The Democrats are perfectly consent with all of this terrorism. As another comment noted, they exist to provide stability for corporations. As such, the Dems have spent the last year-and-a-half helping sheep the USA into fascism. They don’t care about our rights. They care that we stay calm, especially in situations where being calm is unnatural and destructive.
Don’t get me wrong: There are good “Democrats” (AOC, Chris Murphy, Ilhan Omar…), and I will still vote for them; and Representative Thomas Massie was a man with more character than at least half of the Democratic Party’s politicians, despite membership in the Republican Party of Epstein and fascism. There is always nuance, and there are always outliers. What I do not want is for people to trust Democratic leadership. The only party I trust at this point is the Working Families Party; the coalition which rallied for Mamdani’s NYC mayoral victory against the strongest voices of the Democratic Party. Of course, his opponent being a mass-murdering sexual predator helped, too; which begs the question of why the DNC would support a mass-murdering sexual predator.
When it comes to general elections, even the corporate Dems tend to be better than the Republicans. I mean, if the corpos are out there avoiding any solutions, the GOP is actively trying to harm people, and “nothing” is better than “more boots to the ass.” If the last three Presidential elections show anything, it is that the Democratic party will not be fixed by withholding general election votes in protest, and third parties are still irrelevant.
The time to fix the Democrats is in the primaries. The people to fix those primaries are people who would really rather vote for a radical 3rd party candidate. Many states have open primaries, so third party voters can just go vote in the Dem primary. Treat it like sabotage. The right-wing nutjobs took over the republican party. Left wing nutjobs can take over the democrats, if they show up. Mamdani doesn’t have to be a black swan.
The problem is, that’s how the country creeps rightward. If the Dems aren’t going to do anything because of “stability,” that leaves the door open for the Reps to yank it to the right next time they’re in power. And they do. Every time. Much moreso the last 2 times. There are little to no “moderate” Republicans left - most of them are Democrats, now, which is also Not Good.
So given that the US has the Fascist party, and the “Don’t make waves” party, they’re on a path to full-on authoritarianism unless they can drum up an actual progressive opposition.
Not that I doubt it but what do you mean the DNC backed an indie candidate? I thought the DNC chair endorsed Mamdani following primaries?
If you want the real answer to that question, look no further than the guest list for Dick Cheney’s funeral.
It’s the same reason the supreme court is stacked the way it is, Rowe wasn’t codified, and there always seems to be a Manchin, Sinema, or Fetterman there to throw a wrench into the gears.
I would be willing to forgive someone for attending Cheneys funeral if they showed up drunk as hell, 40 of Billy Dee in hand, and treating the death of that monster like the celebration it should’ve been.
This would’ve also been acceptable behavior for Kissingers funeral
It’s because they don’t want any candidates that want to make actual changes, they want to perpetuate the status quo. So radicals get filtered and slandered until no one is left who can fight back. The only time someone else gets through is when they can capture enough public attention that the Dems can’t smear them out of the running.
Or that’s what it looks like from the outside. I haven’t lived in the US in years, so maybe I’m way off nowadays.
Right, right, that’s why they fail to stop supporting things voters detest.
Rein in corporations. Hold them to account and stop giving them the benefit of the doubt. Stop treating them as “job creators”. Shut them out of decision making and force them to actually compete.
That’s an uncomfortable position to take but it’s part of the fight voters want from them. They don’t just want a fight against trump, they want a fight against everyone enabling him and gleefully taking advantage of the chaos he’s creating.
Ban owning stocks and enforce divesting in all branches!
Disempower AIPAC, get fascist foreign politics out of domestic affairs.
Fuck corporate oligarchy, fuck all colonizer fascism, fuck state sponsored terrorism everywhere.
Take a fucking stand, end Citizen’s United, abolish AIPAC and corporate lobbyists, repair our tax system to dismantle billionaires and fund true social programs; universal healthcare and housing are human rights.
Clean food, water and air are also human rights.
Democrats serve corporations. Corporations value stability and laws that benefit them. Democrats want to deliver for them and keep things stable while maximizing corporate donations.
Maga Republicans serve the oligarchs. They want to be able to run scams and prop up a new ruling class. They are doing chaotic things to maximize short term profits for themselves while consuming natural resources as quickly as possible.
They both serve aipac with their seemingly unlimited amount of money.
The root of all evil n politics is money, and also it is what keeps the political machine running.
Stop treating corporations as your fucking constituents. Delaware notwithstanding
Stop funding genocide
The great part of this option is that it’s super easy to do. Literally a “do nothing and win” move.
