The “Establishment” vs. DSA Fight Is Overblown

But They Can Both Learn from Each Other

I know I’m in the minority of Democrats here, but I think that the media narrative regarding the intra-party fight between “Establishment” Democrats and the DSA wing of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party is overblown. While a good story to tell and likely to generate clicks, what I see more of in this “fight” is a generational fight that also comes with a few unique wrinkles that generally happen within parties going through the kind of generational, demographic and ideological shifts we see happening across the Democratic Party.

A few points I want to make clear upfront as we think about what’s happening and how Democrats can emerge from this cycle ready to govern while Trump is still in the White House while also looking to win in 2028 –

• Primary fights are healthy, so long as we leave them in the primary. What we’re seeing a lot of Democratic elite hand-wringing about in the emergence of the DSA and more progressive statewide candidates is healthy. Progressives want – and deserve – to see their candidates in primaries where they can make their case to the entire Democratic electorate. Democrats lose voters’ trust when candidates look like they’re hand-picked by party elites. And there’s value to all wings of the Party in seeing where voters land when there’s an election where we have the real polls of whose view of the world prevails with our voters. Primaries tell us where we are as a party, and we only know where we are if we have real choices. When we have choices, people will disagree, but voters will (and should) ultimately make that call. We should all welcome everyone to run in our Democratic primaries, including Democratic Socialists who don’t want to be Democrats at all. Because ultimately, voters will reject them if their views are too extreme or if voters don’t think they can win general elections. I trust our voters to make the right call (most times). The key, though, is that once the primary is over, we focus our attention on the people who deserve to lose: Republicans.

• Establishment Democrats needed a wakeup call. I think we can all agree that the Democratic Party is a gerontocracy that needs to be broken, and the Party’s failing brand has as much to do with old candidates that are out of touch as it does a message that is stale and needs new messengers and new messages. If we learned nothing else from 2024, we were reminded that the couch is always on the ballot when people don’t think they have something to vote for. A party whose message was largely focused on what it was against and who could only be associated with deeply unpopular social issues was one that needed to be beaten. What I think the emergence of the Far Left and DSA has done for many Democrats is wake them up to an electorate that is growing tired of the Party’s leadership. That’s a good thing – for everybody.

• This isn’t about being “centrist.” The easy mistake a lot of commentators make about this issue is that the solution to the DSA and Progressive is being a “moderate” or “centrist.” That’s not only the wrong read; that’s also bad politics. Most voters are going to have positions that span the ideological spectrum, and good candidates and campaigns can, too. Some issues like universal healthcare and more government control on things like data centers and artificial intelligence are good politics and good policy and don’t come with clean ideological tags. So, ignore the “we need more Democratic centrists” talk because that’s not a winner, either.

• While the DSA wing of the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party is real, it’s only concentrated, largely White, only in a few places but over indexes online and in terms of media attention. I also think we need to be clear about the nature and scale of the “threat” that the DSA poses. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s ascendance – along with a handful of Congressional races in deeply Democratic districts – has muddied the reality that this is a “movement” that is only in a handful of pockets across the country. They tend to be highly urbanized areas with lots of college educated people, so think New York City and Seattle not Birmingham and Indianapolis. That’s important because Democrats have to win and compete everywhere, and in the places where we’re the weakest (rural and suburban areas), we aren’t faced with much DSA/Establishment primary battles. And the non-DSA parts of the country are the vast majority of America. So, while the largely New York City and D.C.-centric media types like to focus on this (in part, because the DSA activity is hot in their backyards), the ink spilled on this isn’t close to the political reality on the ground for most Americans and most Democrats.

So, now that that’s out of the way, I think smart Democrats will take what works from the ascendant Far Left/DSA wing but still commit to the kind of fundamentals that Establishment candidates and electeds swear by.

What that looks like is candidates that are clear on the Middle East and the U.S.’ relationship with Israel but also understanding that affordability on healthcare, housing, and childcare still wins the day. Universal healthcare is increasingly popular, but you have to have an option for people who like the insurance they have and a role for private insurers. That also looks like candidates with modern, easy-to-understand communications like Mayor Mamdani’s “man on the street” interviews and straight-to-camera appeals instead of wordy IG posts that no one reads or kneeling in Kente cloth.

I think my friends on the DSA left would benefit from learning from the “political gravity” that will come with deeply unpopular positions like abolishing the police, prisons, and borders and gender reassignment surgeries for prisoners – or they’ll continue to lose in bigger races outside of Congressional districts and cities like New York City and Denver and most Democratic primaries. Political gravity will also come into play on race, because a class-only critique of our politics is both wrong *and* bad politics, as Black voters – particularly in the South – will continue to give the Far Left the cold shoulder. As you can see, Mayor Mamdani isn’t abolishing the police, he kept Mayor Adams’ police chief, he can’t arrest Netanyahu when he comes to New York (even though he campaigned on this and no one asked for it), and he is meeting with President Trump. So, even their patron saint has done what everyone does when they win elections: they moderate to govern. He’s also – at least rhetorically – said the right things about race and the outcomes of Black New Yorkers, so the Far Left’s blind spots on race could improve in time. I hope more of his allies take note and follow suit.

Political gravity is also finding my Establishment friends. The Democratic Party’s traditional relationship with Israel is no longer sustainable, and I think in 2028 we’ll see the first Democratic nominee for President with a non-traditional orientation towards Israel and the Middle East that is closer to Jesse Jackson than Barack Obama or Joe Biden. Our relationship with Corporate America post-Trump also has to change when we saw so many companies bend the knee to the Trump White House. I can’t say this enough, but Washington Democrats are also too old, and every time they remind us that they’re out of touch, it gives life to people who want to burn it all down. Political gravity will bring younger challengers from the Establishment wing like a Christian Menefee in Houston such that the race becomes young versus old and not electable versus unelectable in general elections, and the Establishment is going to lose that one more and more as time goes on.

I won’t hold my breath that the groups will learn from one another. But I know when I see Senator Ossoff or Governor Moore, for example, I see young Democrats that are getting smarter on communications, taking tougher stances, while also doing what’s shown to work. Political gravity will do that to you, and I hope everyone uses our primaries to learn to win and be responsive to an electorate that is expecting more of all of us.