A string of high-profile victories by democratic socialists is posing a challenge for Democrats as they look ahead to midterms and seek a path back to the majority in Congress.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Democratic socialists have scored some high-profile victories over the last few days.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
And in the view of many Republicans, that should be a warning sign for voters. Here’s President Trump on Wednesday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We’re not going to let communists get on our way. We’re not going to let anyone get in the way. Not the communists.
MARTÍNEZ: For Democrats, these kinds of attacks come as no surprise, but they still pose a challenge for the party as they look ahead to this year’s midterms and a path back to the majority in Congress.
MARTIN: NPR political reporter Elena Moore has been keeping an eye on all this and is with us now. Good morning, Elena.
ELENA MOORE, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So we saw democratic socialists win big victories in New York City last week and then again this week in Denver. How are they doing it?
MOORE: Well, it’s a mix of things. Democrats have struggled to coalesce around a clear post-2024 message. But many of these successful campaigns endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America – or DSA – do have a core message, one that’s centered around economic populism and rejecting the political status quo. They’re also not shying away from more polarizing issues like abolishing ICE and an end to U.S. military aid in Israel. And taken together, it’s a platform that appears to be energizing people, at least in these super blue areas.
MARTIN: What did that look like in Denver?
MOORE: To back up real quick, the DSA is not a registered political party. It’s a membership group. So that’s why these candidates are running in the Democratic Party primary, and that’s what Melat Kiros did in Denver. She’s a 29-year-old first-time candidate who unseated longtime Democrat Diana DeGette. And make no mistake, DeGette is seen as a progressive on Capitol Hill, but she’s also been there since 1997, the year Kiros was born. So Kiros campaigned as an anti-establishment candidate, calling for a new type of politics. And like many leftist candidates this year, she tried to differentiate herself by vocally rejecting money from corporate PACs and pro-Israel lobbying groups and criticizing her opponent for taking those same kinds of donations in the past.
MARTIN: Can you talk about the drawbacks that some other Democrats see in these DSA victories?
MOORE: Well, several of these candidates are going from activist to politician, and skeptics are wasting no time highlighting at least one of these candidate’s past comments disparaging Democrats. Some Democrats are hesitant to associate with DSA, saying it could complicate their message in toss-up races where control of Congress will ultimately be decided.
Matt Bennett with the centrist think tank Third Way argued that Republicans will paint any Democrat as a democratic socialist in hopes that it will make them seem too extreme.
MATT BENNETT: Of course, it’s possible to run as a left-leaning populist without adopting the maximalism of the extremes, but it is very hard for Democrats now to distinguish themselves.
MARTIN: What do the democratic socialists say to that?
MOORE: Well, I talked to Claire Valdez about it. She’s one of two candidates for Congress who won in New York last week. She argues this is not a radical movement.
CLAIRE VALDEZ: We’re seeing it not just in New York City, but really around the country that there’s broad consensus around the need to recenter working-class, you know, Americans in our politics and really fight to make sure that the Democratic Party is leading on these issues.
MARTIN: So with all that said, what’s the calculus for Democrats as they look ahead to November?
MOORE: Well, candidates who don’t want to be associated with DSA are going to try to strike a balance, tapping into some of that same messaging without the DSA label, and that’s not going to stop the GOP from framing people as extreme. But given how frustrated folks are with politics right now, I’ll be watching to see if voters are more willing to look past those kind of attacks.
MARTIN: That’s NPR’s Elena Moore. Elena, thank you.
MOORE: Thanks, Michel.
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