The people be damned
The Democratic Party establishment still thinks it knows best
Apparently, Chuck Schumer does not understand[1] many folks’ absolute fury with the Democratic Party establishment[2] and has been working—with mixed results—to undermine populist candidates. The stated rationale is to improve chances in the general election.[3] The trouble is that a lot of voters are fed up with a party that continues to persuade me it prefers to sit in opposition, where it can complain about the Republicans without ever being expected to actually accomplish anything.
First, it was Democratic Socialists Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Brad Lander, all endorsed by Democratic Socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, winning their contests as the city’s “left-leaning voters proved once again that they are done with the Democratic establishment as they backed every Mamdani endorsement to the hilt.”[4] Okay, some folks hoped, that’s just one city. Then Melat Kiros, another Democratic Socialist, won her primary in Colorado. Progressives did well generally as voters again rejected the establishment, its money, its complicity with Donald Trump, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.[5]
Something similar had also happened in Maine with Graham Platner. But Platner is now under pressure to withdraw after an allegation of what sounds an awful lot like rape.[6] State Democratic Party officials are scrambling to put together a process to select a replacement candidate but “Platner’s team is trying ‘to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.’” The officials deny that Platner will have any role,[7] but in his primary, he won over 70 percent of the vote and, surely, those voters deserve a say.[8] Meanwhile, those officials seem to be doing their work in a notorious “smoke-filled room,” which shouldn’t put anyone’s mind at ease.
Whatever the outcome in Maine, it is apparent that progressives are accomplishing something I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime, even as the Democratic Party establishment, as it has done for decades, fights them tooth and nail.
The Democratic Party establishment is not noted for listening to voters. I remember looking at their 2004 presidential campaign platform and noticing the resemblance to Republican positions. I remember when voters elected Democrats to control of Congress in 2006 and Barack Obama to the presidency in 2008 with a mandate to get us out of the Iraq War, a mandate that went unfulfilled. I remember failures on student loans, minimum wage, white supremacist gangster (so-called “police”) reform, healthcare, the social safety net, voting rights, abortion, and the climate crisis. All these are planks the Democrats run on but absolutely refuse to deliver on. (And no, I’m not even a little bit interested in their excuses.) And I remember when the Democrats did everything possible to defeat Bernie Sanders’ run for the presidential nomination even as it was clear he was a stronger candidate than Hillary Clinton.
If there’s one thing the Democratic Party establishment is more determined to do than sit in opposition, it’s to uphold the neoconservative and neoliberal consensus. Which means more war and the rich get richer. And the people be damned.
[1] Alex Roarty et al., “Chuck Schumer Hits His Limit,” News Of The United States, July 1, 2026, https://www.notus.org/democrats/chuck-schumer-dscc-senate-primaries
[2] David Benfell, “We have to take care of people,” Not Housebroken, June 24, 2026, https://www.disunitedstates.org/p/we-have-to-take-care-of-people
[3] Alex Roarty et al., “Chuck Schumer Hits His Limit,” News Of The United States, July 1, 2026, https://www.notus.org/democrats/chuck-schumer-dscc-senate-primaries
[4] Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns, “The new king of New York,” Politico, June 24, 2026, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/06/24/the-new-king-of-new-york-00973348
[5] Nick Coltrain and Seth Klamann, “Five takeaways in Colorado primaries as DSA candidate ousts congresswoman, Democrats reject senator, big money falters,” Denver Post, July 1, 2026, https://www.denverpost.com/2026/07/01/colorado-primary-election-results-governor-melat-kiros/
[6] Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns, “The dam breaks on Platner,” Politico, July 7, 2026, https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2026/07/07/the-dam-breaks-on-platner-00988487
[7] Jack Blanchard with Dasha Burns, “Inside the battle for Maine,” Politico, July 8, 2026,
[8] Andrew Prokop, “What could Democrats have done differently about Graham Platner?” Vox, July 7, 2026, https://www.vox.com/politics/494565/graham-platner-allegations-assault-withdrawing-dropping-out