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Leubsdorf: Moderates’ success continues in Democratic races
By Carl Leubsdorf
Published: August 29, 2022, 6:01am
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For the last two campaigns, Republicans have taken advantage of some loud left-wing Democratic voices to falsely label their entire party as embracing neo-socialist policies and such unpopular ideas as defunding local police departments.
At the same time, however, the Democratic rank-and-file in primaries from Texas to New York has generally spurned leftist alternatives — as it did nationally in 2020 — and the party’s slim congressional majorities have rejected more sweeping expansions of federal programs.
The most recent example occurred when the 50 Senate Democrats finally agreed on a $437 billion spending package of environmental and health measures despite objections from liberals like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who had been pushing a plan nearly 15 times as large.
In the end, Sanders and the liberal House Democratic majority acquiesced, recognizing this was the most they could get.
Meanwhile, in liberal New York, Democratic primary voters mostly continued their pattern of choosing more centrist alternatives.
But the pattern has not been absolute. Four members of the left-wing House Democratic faction known as the Squad survived recent primary challenges, including New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman. And Democrats in two crucial Senate races, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, picked the more liberal candidates.
Notably, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a 2016 Sanders supporter, has dropped his support of Medicare for all, relying mostly on an “everyman” persona honed as a small-town western Pennsylvania mayor.
He has the good fortune to be facing wealthy television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Trump choice whose Pennsylvania residence has been questioned. Recently, an Oz gaffe went viral, evoking elitist vibes by using the term “crudités” for what his rival said Pennsylvanians call a “veggie tray.”
Josh Kraushaar, a nonpartisan analyst with Axios, concluded that Democratic moderates had won a majority of contests in “swing” districts where such stances might help in general elections. The results were more even in heavily Democratic districts where liberal positions aren’t likely to be general election handicaps. But he noted that Gallup’s polling shows more Democrats consider themselves liberals than a decade ago.
This year’s most notable progressive victories were in Pennsylvania, where state Rep. Summer Lee defeated attorney Steve Irwin for an open seat in Pittsburgh, and in Oregon, where attorney Jamie McLeod-Skinner unseated moderate Rep. Kurt Schrader.
In other high-profile races, however, progressives suffered setbacks. Tuesday’s New York results echoed those of prior Democratic primaries in the Empire State where interim Gov. Kathy Hochul routed a liberal challenger.
Meanwhile, the continuing sway of progressive Democrats within the party’s narrow House majority was underscored last week when leaders failed to pass a bill decrying efforts to defund the police. Party leaders had hoped to help some “frontliners” facing significant GOP challenges in closely divided districts.
But the Democrats got help from an unexpected source: Republicans defending Trump after the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago by calling for defunding the FBI.
Their pleas split the GOP, prompting support for federal law enforcement from such major party figures as former Vice President Mike Pence. And they undercut the continuing GOP effort to weaken Democrats by labeling them enemies of law enforcement.
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