WASHINGTON--Democrats head into November’s midterm elections with potential advantages, including the unpopularity of President Donald Trump and voter anger with Republicans over high prices.
But a string of primary victories by left-wing Democrats could complicate party leaders' efforts to keep the campaign narrowly focused on the cost of living as some candidates advocate a broader reordering of government spending and policy priorities. Republicans are seizing on those victories to portray Democrats as extreme, hoping to shift attention away from voter dissatisfaction with Trump’s stewardship of the economy.
Four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, won competitive Democratic primaries in New York City last week and in Colorado on Tuesday, but the left-wing surge is not confined to liberal bastions. Progressive candidates have also won contests in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
Many of these candidates argue that tackling the high cost of living means taxing the rich, cutting military spending, opposing U.S. funding for Israel, expanding government-funded programmes including a push for universal healthcare, and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They want ICE funds redirected into domestic welfare programs.
“It’s about the choices we are making to offer solutions on affordability,” said Adam Hamawy, a New Jersey Democrat who won his U.S. House primary last month on a progressive platform.
“It’s about where to spend on programmes that are going to help our communities, not help the military industrial complex and drop bombs and cause misery overseas,” Hamawy, a former U.S. Army combat surgeon, told Reuters.
While those ideas have appeal among parts of the Democratic base, opinion polls show voters are most focused on kitchen table issues such as the cost of food, housing and healthcare. A June Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the cost of living is the top concern for nearly half of registered voters.
Republicans are now betting that the victories by the left-wing candidates could give them an opportunity to push Democrats onto less favorable terrain: socialism, immigration enforcement and Israel’s war in Gaza. In a speech last week, Trump previewed what has now become a central Republican line of attack, falsely casting the successful left-wing candidates as communists and “the greatest threat to our country since its founding.”
Socialism favors public control of major industries while allowing some private property and markets. Democratic socialism pursues socialist goals through democratic means. Communism is more radical: it seeks to abolish private property and create a classless society.
Mike Marinella, press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told Reuters that his group is “making clear that the same socialist agenda taking hold in New York is spreading to battleground districts across the country.”
That strategy has begun. Denise Powell, the Democratic nominee in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, is more mainstream. But in a May digital ad, the NRCC portrayed her as “a political operative for the far-left dark money machine, trying to transplant her radical left policies here.”
Powell’s campaign manager, Ryan Longenecker, said in a statement, “Nebraskans won’t be fooled – they know Denise is a working mom and bipartisan leader.”
Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Republicans were “resorting to ineffective boogeyman attacks” because they had failed to bring down prices.
Republicans have long shown an ability to tie Democrats to their most liberal slogans and proposals even when those are not widely embraced by the party. Republicans seized on the “defund the police” slogan in the 2020 and 2022 elections to put Democrats on the defensive even though many party leaders had rejected that call.
