Progressive Democrats' early midterm successes reignite debates over electability
Two years ago, she came within four percentage points of forcing the veteran Democrat out of office.
Over the last few cycles, progressives have demonstrated they can topple well funded and established centrist Democrats, even in parts of the country that don’t seem like strong territory for the far left. But progressives have yet to prove that they can win general elections byin the kind of swing districts where the Democratic establishment prefers to run moderates.
Few victories would galvanize progressives like taking down Cuellar, one of a handful of conservatives left in the House Democratic Caucus. The race is a key one also for abortion rights groups. Cuellar is the last Democrat in the House opposed to abortion rights. Last year he was the sole Democrat to join Republicans voting against a bill to prevent governments from restricting access to abortions.The Senate fails to advance a bill to legalize abortion nationwide.
For Democrats, the intraparty conflict often presents itself as a David vs. Goliath contest between an entrenched incumbent and an upstart progressive. In firmly Democratic districts, progressives who beat more moderate members of their party have gone on to easily win the general election, like Ocasio-Cortez in New York, and Reps. Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts and Marie Newman in Illinois.
Progressive groups like Our Revolution and Justice Democrats “have never, ever flipped a seat, not once ever,” said Bennett. “That’s what the name of the game here is, is creating majorities and beating Republicans in tough districts.”Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey decided not to run for Senate, marking a setback for McConnell’s efforts to win back the chamber for Republicans.
President Biden on Tuesday offered a blueprint to candidates fighting to plant their flag in the moderate camp during his State of the Union speech, rejecting calls to “defund the police” movement, ad-libbing “fund them, fund them,” and calling for more secure borders, while glossing over or ignoring progressive issues like climate change, abortion rights and student loan debt.