Even moderate Democrats are scared now.
According to Democrat Representative Ro Khanna of California, the progressive faction of the Democratic Party, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and “the Squad”, is in the process of “building power” and is poised to “dominate presidential elections in the next 15 years”. This comes amidst internal conflicts between moderates and liberals regarding the party’s direction.
According to Fox, Cheri Bustos, the former leader of the House Democrats’ campaign arm and a former Illinois lawmaker, stated that there is often a “reckoning” when a political party veers too far towards either the right or left end of the political spectrum.
Bustos, who identifies as a moderate Democrat, pointed out that in 2018, following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, the Democratic Party appeared to have responded by moving towards the left end of the political spectrum. She believes that such a swing towards either extreme end, be it left or right, often leads to a “reckoning” in politics.
Progressive Democrats highlighted their recent triumph in the Chicago mayoral race, where Brandon Johnson, a progressive candidate endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, emerged victorious over his moderate rival, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.
Representative Khanna spoke to the Times and predicted that progressive candidates would have a strong presence in future elections, especially in a post-Biden political landscape.
Khanna openly said, “Right now, the progressives are sort of building power — it is like a silent build that is just going to explode in a post-Biden world. I just can’t conceive of a situation where progressives aren’t dominating presidential elections over the next 15 years after Biden.”
According to the outlet’s report, progressive candidates and their supporters are still in a defensive position.
In an interview with socialist magazine Jacobin, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the far-left Squad and Democrat from New York, very strangely implied that President Biden may be forgetting the voters who played a significant role in securing his election victory.