Democratic Socialists of America candidates have been on a hot winning streak in Democratic party primary elections across the U.S. this year. The latest victory in Colorado saw 29-year-old DSA candidate Melat Kiros, defeat 15-term Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who represented the state’s 1st Congressional District since 1997.
Kiros’ victory came after a string of impressive primary wins in New York on June 23, where New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed DSA candidates Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and Darializa Avila Chevalier ousted 5-term incumbent Congressman Adriano Espaillat. In other New York races, DSA members won two state Senate and four state Assembly seats.
Elsewhere around the country, DSA candidates have won Washington, D.C.’s mayoral primary and will compete in this November’s mayoral runoff in Los Angeles. In the weeks ahead, DSA candidates will be running in primaries in Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Florida. In response to the success of the progressive left this year, prominent Democratic party leaders like former President Clinton’s adviser James Carville and former DNC chairman Jamie Harrison have angrily called for a break with the ascendent Democratic socialist wing of the party. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Norman Solomon, co-founder of the activist group RootsAction, who assesses the angry denunciation of DSA candidates by members of the centrist Democratic party establishment.
NORMAN SOLOMON: Among a lot of corporate Democrats who are accustomed to ruling the roost of the Democratic party nationally, there’s been a bit of a freak out. They’re not accustomed to progressive … I’m talking about genuine anti-militarist, anti-genocide progressives actually winning one congressional primary after another in deep blue districts, which is exactly what has happened in the last few weeks. And there’s a tone of anger, of betrayal by voters almost coming from a lot of folks who have become sort of over the years icons of the National Democratic party. One I think really illustrative example is Jaime Harrison, who for four years was Joe Biden’s chair of the Democratic National Committee. So during the four years of the Biden presidency, Jaime Harrison was accustomed to essentially saying that the Biden kind of Democrat is what the party stands for.
And so Jaime Harrison, I think, was expressing a kind of a freak out when he tweeted on the Election Day that saw three Democratic socialists win primaries in those deep blue districts in New York. He said, “Hey, go away. We don’t want you in our party.” I mean, I’m quoting here. Jaime Harrison tweeted, “Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure. Don’t ask Democrats to invest their time, money and energy in your campaign.”
Well, that kind of a message from the former DNC chair really turned reality on its head. I mean, really these socialist candidates have been winning across the country, not because they pilfered or siphoned away existing Democratic party volunteers, but because they inspired volunteers, huge numbers of them to volunteer to provide, yes, donations and other resources that are needed to actually win. So what we’re seeing is a real panic among a lot of establishment Democrats because the gap between actual polling opinions that have been very clear for years now, the gap between the base of the Democratic party and the elites has become too glaring.
And the gap is being closed by the actual voters who are tossing out a lot of these establishment Democrats.
SCOTT HARRIS: Norman, what’s been the reaction of Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee chair, and important folks in the party like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries?
NORMAN SOLOMON: It’s been really interesting because Jaime Harrison, as the former DNC chair, has been very hostile to these Democratic socialists who’ve been winning elections. Likewise, James Carville, who by the way, flatly predicted that Kamala Harris would defeat Donald Trump, who later advised the Democratic party after Trump got back in the White House to “play ‘possum.” That’s the kind of wisdom we’ve gotten from James Carville. He’s also very hostile to the Democratic socialists. And so we’ve got that kind of reaction, which I think is counterproductive, to put it mildly.
Compare that to what is being done by the current chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, who is sending out congratulatory messages to all of the Democrats who are winning these primaries. And I think that is the proper role, the proper approach that should be taken. If anybody’s serious about a big tent, Hey, we just have a few months for the defeat of Republicans in the midterms.
What’s at stake is control over the House and control over the Senate. And it’s ironic that some of the same conservative Democrats who for years have lectured progressives about how they need to pull with the team and not be divisive and unify and support the Democratic party going into the election. Those are a lot of the same Democrats who are now telling Democratic socialists who’ve won these elections that they don’t belong in the party. So they’re trying to make the so-called big tent smaller and smaller.
SCOTT HARRIS: What’s your feeling about the important task ahead? If these Democratic socialists are victorious in November and the Democrats take the House, what do you think their role should be?
NORMAN SOLOMON: A really important task ahead is for the growing number of progressives in Congress to say we’re no longer going to defer to corporate power. We understand that the vast income inequality in this country, the militarism, the nonstop wars, this is because of a lack of democracy because of outsized inordinate corporate power.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Norman Solomon (18:55) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the related links section of this page. To subscribe to our podcasts, email newsletters, our Trump authoritarian playbook Substack or social media, subscribe here. Subscribe to our Weekly Summary
