Will Democrats ever take a stand against DSA candidates?
A question from commenter “F”:
Apparently the DSA thinks they’re on the ascendent right now, and they’re prepared to swing for the fences. Ironically, they are damaging their relationship with the Democratic part in doing so, and (as Neo points out), their numbers are too small to be a real national party. If they swing and miss they will damage not only their own brand, but that of the Democrats too. My question now is, how long will it take Democrats to see this and tell them to get lost, as people like John Fetterman is doing already?
I suppose it depends at least partly on what is meant by “swing and miss.” On the local level of city government in very blue cities, or representation in state legislatures from certain very blue districts, they seem to be batting over 500. As long as they choose their battles carefully and limit them to such places, they will win.
It’s when it gets to the state and national level that the results are unknown. So far, it’s instructive to note the campaign of Michigan’s El-Sayed for the US Senate seat. The approach is that, although he clearly is simpatico with the DSA’s goals, he is not a member and they have not endorsed him. That is a case of obfuscation, because they are invested in his win and support it:
DSA officials have “already shifted organizers, volunteers and resources” into Michigan as El-Sayed squares off against the more moderate congresswoman Haley Stevens in a bruising Democratic primary, Politico reported. El-Sayed’s campaign has also held discussions with the DSA about holding rallies in the state with left-wing officials like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.), who recently endorsed El-Sayed, according to Politico.
“It’s DSA summer. We can’t stop racking up wins,” left-wing media host Emma Vigeland told the outlet. “We’re seeing the culmination of 10 years of democratic socialism becoming more mainstream.”
The DSA’s organizing in Michigan is notable given that El-Sayed is not officially a DSA member—and that he’s running for Senate in a swing state that narrowly backed President Donald Trump in 2024. Socialist candidates like Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York City and Melat Kiros in Denver, by contrast, won primary elections in deep-blue districts that are almost guaranteed to send them to Congress come November.
“Abdul El-Sayed is not DSA affiliated, but he’s a progressive fighter,” anti-American streamer Hasan Piker, who campaigned with El-Sayed in April, told Politico.
“Everybody in the coalition is on the same page, whether it be Justice Dems, whether it be [the Working Families Party], whether it be DSA,” added left-wing consultant Vincent Vertuccio, who said that Michigan is “absolutely the next focus of this national movement.”
Michigan also happens to have one of the larger Muslim population percentages in the US: it is fifth, according to a chart that can be found here, after Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. The would also help El-Sayed in the primary.
I think the general Michigan approach, which is to run a candidate for statewide office who is definitely aligned with DSA goals but not officially DSA, is the way it will go in the future in many states for state-level campaigns. I don’t know whether El-Sayed will win; it’s still early, but at the moment (now that a third candidate has dropped out) he is trailing his Democrat opponent Stevens.
So Michigan may not be ready for El-Sayed just yet. But one thing to remember about the left is that they take the long view and are extraordinarily patient. They have been preparing the ground for many decades, in particular through their outsize influence on our system of education, and it has borne fruit these days.
So, why don’t more people speak out a la Fetterman? For one thing, Fetterman is sui generis. For another, they are afraid of being primaried, and the far left is a very significant part of the Democrat base these days. I believe very many Democrat members of Congress, and governors, feel it’s in their personal interest (if they wish to get re-elected) to lay low on this issue and to inch closer to the far left agenda in order to keep as many voters as possible in their own camp. It’s a tricky balancing act for many, especially is blue areas. In purple ones, there is more to be gained by condemning DSA positions – and then voting for them in Congress when they are told to do so.
POWER
As far as “moderate” democrats it’s POWER for them and the hope the crocodile eats them last.
“My question now is, how long will it take Democrats to see this and tell them to get lost, as people like John Fetterman is doing already?” neo
“the far left is a very significant part of the Democrat base these days.” neo
The democrats are faced with a conundrum; they can’t win enough votes with the radical DSA’s ‘solutions’ but they can’t win without that far left Democrat base .
Here in CO, Polis is taking a mild stand against them. But then, he helped usher them in. Too little, way to late.
And in the local Tri-Cities (eastern WA scene) the DSA/Democrats had a honk if you hate ICE and ICE is Gestapo “demonstration” at the main shopping thoroughfare in Kennewick.
I passed by on my way to donate platelets: they got a “thumbs down” and “single finger” of disapproval from me.
They didn’t appear to have signs out protesting the Iranian situation.
Maroons.
You can’t beat something with nothing. Like it or not, the DSA has something. What people keep hoping is the “mainstream” of the Democratic Party doesn’t.
While it’s true that Michigan has a relatively large Muslim population, it’s still only 2.4 percent of the total. The black population in Michigan is 14 percent of the total and El-Sayed is getting clobbered by Stevens amongst blacks. DSA candidates are largely supported by college educated white women and do poorly with working class black voters.
It’s hard to imagine DSA supported candidates doing very well nationally with their lack of support among black voters. This is going to be a real problem for them because they really can’t afford to lose the support of either blacks or the DSA.
Related:
“DSA member says she has no problem supporting ‘secret Nazis’ under one condition”—
https://trib.al/IwxwHrg
H/T Instapundit.
+ Bonus:
“What we learn from history is that we do not learn from history”—
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/430325
I see the current strength of the DSA as a weakness for the Democrat Party.
That’s not where the US is these days, much less trending, except in super-blue areas.
It makes more sense to me as a last gasp of the radical Democrat Left. Though they will do much damage on the way out.
Could Fetterman be the next Bill Clinton?
From Gregory’s comment:
“DSA candidates are largely supported by college educated white women …”
I’m starting to call that type “college activated”, not educated!
How incredibly sad, too.
..
Neo, that Wiki page on Islam in America is so depressing.
I wish America had been smarter in 1965, when writing the immigration act.
More tolerant is not smarter.
And this from it:
“Conversion to Islam in large cities[15] and in prisons[16] have also contributed to its growth over the years.”
Prison, I can somewhat understand. They are in an awful place, & belonging to some “gang” with special perks is perhaps a safety play.
I wish there was some way to thwart that.
It is bleak and terrible that our prisons and universities are feeding a very dark problem for America.
Whew! I realized how “ist” I can sound, wrt Islam.
I am definitely culturist, & I pick ours.
.
The ironic thing, of a few, is how Islam is not great at tolerating LGBTQxyz. Yet enough of them seem willing to support that plank, in order to join with Marxists in the fight against America and Israel.
One of those “my enemy of my enemy is my friend” thing. For a time.
When have Democratic pols ever been generally inclined to do the right thing? Not at any time since about 1990.
“Why Orwell Matters” (a sequel).
Much of what this article covers is known, but it’s important, actually vital, to not only remember it but keep it in mind.
“Orwell, Spain and the totalitarian left;
“George Orwell’s experiences during the Spanish Civil War were to fuel his greatest work.”—
https://www.spiked-online.com/2026/07/19/orwell-spain-and-the-totalitarian-left/
Key grafs (RTWT):
Speculation is growing in the places I browse that AOC might be readying a run for the Presidency in 2028. That would certainly smoke out some interesting lines of support: she would almost certainly get hearty support from the DSA, far-left Democrats, “enlightened” and college-educated women, and maybe Hispanics (because of her lineage). But would she be supported by traditional Democrats and labor unions? How would Pennsylvania and Ohio steel-working areas do with a sharp-tongued New Yorker? It feels to me as if the harder left Democrats veer, the less likely they are to pick up swing voters, who are essential to a successful nation-wide run. Can AOC moderate after the primaries are over and still get support from Bernie Sanders?
We know the conventional wisdom is you campaign to the extremes for the primaries and to the center for the general, but is there a central position for AOC? Or is this conventional wisdom no longer accurate for voters who are influenced by “influencers”?
Sennacherib says it’s about power. For some that’s definitely the case, but Bernie could have had the Democratic nomination two years ago and he stepped back even though he probably knew compared to Kamala he was the more attractive candidate. Maybe he really doesn’t want to be President — I could understand that. Or maybe he was bought off, although four years in the White House would have earned him far more than a lake house in the mountains — what he calls his “camp”. It’s also possible he doesn’t want to be president as much as he wants to be the power behind the presidency, which he certainly could be with AOC as the candidate.
It’s fun to speculate on all this, except I fear for the country. The DSA, Mamdani, and The Squad will not be good for this country. I keep hoping they have surged too far too fast and will sputter out. Or they will so anger the old guard in the Democratic Party that there will be a split. In any case, I don’t see Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries coming out well. Or is that just wishful thinking on my part?
— F
You think withdrawing was his idea? I don’t. I strongly suspect he was more or less told that he was withdrawing. The whole reason the Dems allowed him to run in the first place was so that Hilary could claim she had been challenged in the primary and won. I don’t think they ever expected him to catch fire the way he did, but they had already made up their mind before they started that this time Hilary would get the nomination she was owed. Period.
Did they threaten him? Maybe. Or maybe he got a payoff of some kind. Or possibly both. But I do not believe for one moment that his withdrawal was entirely voluntary.
I believe Biden intended to run in 2016 too, and Obama told him firmly ‘no’. His speech announcing his not running sounded for all the world like a speech to begin a campaign. I think it was such a speech, but Obama made him change it at the last moment to clear the path for Hilary. It was her turn.
As for Kamala in 2016, the Dems were more or less stuck with her as candidate if they forced Biden off the stage. As veep and member of double ‘victim classes’, black and female, they politically had to give it to her.
The only way to avoid that would be a united front by the Party leadership to force her to ‘voluntarily’ allow a primary or a brokered/open convention or some such option.
I suspect Obama and Pelosi were in the process of planning something like that, but as I said, it needed a united front, and Joe and Jill endorsed Kamala and thus forced the Democratic Party to do the same. It was their way of saying FU to the people who had forced Joe off the ticket.
I still remember the grin on Joe’s face after the 2024 election was over. I think he was the second happiest politician in the country after Trump himself.
— Mike Plaiss
Something to remember is that the DSA policies are simply those of the Dem ‘Progressive’ base for the last 30+ years. White straight liberals=DSA, more or less.
People have asked why the Dems don’t follow Bill Clinton’s post 1994 playbook to counter Trump. There are multiple reasons, but a big one is that the Dem Progressive base absolutely hated ‘triangulation’, ‘the era of big government is over’, etc. They had to support Bill because he was their only link to power after 1994, but they hated his ‘moderation’. Yes, even though Bill was still pursuing their agenda quietly, they wanted no compromise.
The white progressive base thought Obama was too rightist.
So, the resurgant DSA has not come out of nowhere. It’s been there all along, wired right into the upper class base of the Democratic Party. Many of the voters who voted GOP over the last 30 years were in fact voting against DSA ideals, even if they weren’t called that at the time. They could still be perceived in the Democratic Party even so.
Dem politicians have a hard time opposing them because they represent a vital component of the voting coalition.
F: It’s fun to speculate on all this, except I fear for the country.
Indeed.