A decade after Bernie Sanders almost tore the presidential nomination out of the decrepit hands of the Democratic establishment, the party’s old guard, ancient political formulas, and outdated corporate politics seem to finally be facing a moment of comeuppance. The long-overdue reckoning appears to be happening not just in a few predictably liberal locales but across varied swaths of the country that seem ready to embrace populist politics.
First, it was Zohran Mamdani’s underdog mayoral victory against the billionaire class in the capital of global finance. Then it was Sanders’s former staffer, Analilia Mejia, winning an affluent New Jersey suburb that had once been the territory of country-club Republicans. Now this week, it is James Talarico who has won an explicitly anti-billionaire, anti-corruption campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas.
These are just the bold-faced names so far — but there are sure to be more. Party leaders are reportedly enraged that more than thirty incumbent House Democrats now face primary challengers who have raised competitive money, and many of those upstarts are running on the same populist themes that Clinton- and Obama-era Democrats had successfully marginalized. Meanwhile, corporate and billionaire front groups like Third Way are left-punching, desperately trying to remain relevant in an era they fear is passing them by, frantically trying to call the manager on the unruly mutineers — and not realizing there’s no longer anyone to call.
History may not repeat itself, but it may be rhyming. In the 1960s, Republican senator Barry Goldwater’s ideological campaign pressing his party to turn the page on its insipid centrism ended in a crushing presidential election defeat — but only sixteen years later, Goldwater’s acolytes brought about the Reagan Revolution.
Billionaire front groups like Third Way are left-punching, desperately trying to remain relevant in an era they fear is passing them…
Auteur: David Sirota
