Backlash from centrist Democrats as democratic socialist candidates sweep primaries

Chair of the Democratic national committee, Jaime Harrison, speaks during a rally for Kamala Harris in Reno, Nevada, on 31 October 2024. Photograph: Kia Rastar/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Chair of the Democratic national committee, Jaime Harrison, speaks during a rally for Kamala Harris in Reno, Nevada, on 31 October 2024. Photograph: Kia Rastar/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images Backlash from centrist Democrats as democratic socialist candidates sweep primaries Party’s old guard abandons ‘blue no matter what’ banner to push for a more formal break with progressive wing After a string of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) primary victories, the loudest response from much of the Democratic establishment’s old guard was not reconciliation, but escalation. Over the last few days, prominent party figures have moved away from unifying under a “blue no matter who” banner to push for a more formal break with their left flank, and said the moment may have arrived for Democrats to confront their more socialist wing. “I actually do think it’s time for Democrats to talk the S-word: schism,” James Carville, the veteran Democratic strategist and former Bill Clinton adviser, said on his podcast. He added that some DSA-aligned candidates “have no place in the Democratic party” and, of the broader coalition: “I’m not in that fucking political party.” Will the Mamdani effect make 2028 the year of the leftwing president? Read more Jaime Harrison, the former chair of the Democratic national committee, directed a pointed message at candidates running under the party’s banner while openly criticizing its direction. “I say this with no ill will or animosity: if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination,” Harrison wrote on social media. “Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure. Focus on building the party you actually support.” The recent results in New York City were the latest in a run of DSA-aligned wins that have spanned the primary calendar. Earlier this cycle, progressives claimed victories in Maine, New Jersey, California and Philadelphia, where state representative Chris Rabb won a congressional primary in May, and more elections just around the corner. The DSA has endorsed about 150 candidates this cycle, according to an analysis by the Washington Examiner , with 35 either winning primaries or advancing without opposition, in races stretching across Oregon, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania and New York. Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff, offered a structural diagnosis. “What the socialist wing has decided to do is turn blue districts, dark blue,” he told CNN, arguing that Democrats had broadly “lost the plot” by becoming mired in niche concerns rather than mainstream US priorities. Former New York governor David Paterson warned on 77 WABC radio that the party risked something more fundamental than an electoral set