Insurgent Democratic socialist candidates are knocking off establishment-backed incumbents in primaries this year, powered by voters drawn to populist promises such as universal healthcare.
At the same time, many centrist Democrats, fearful of the party’s leftward lunge, are fighting back and warning the Democratic socialists could doom the party in November and beyond.
This collision faces its next test in August, when Democratic socialists are on the ballot in Missouri, Wisconsin and Michigan, including state Rep. Donavan McKinney’s bid to unseat Rep. Shri Thanedar in Detroit.
Some Democrats see the insurgents as exactly the jolt the party needs to become more competitive with Republicans in elections. “People are fed up with this entire system,” McKinney said while knocking on doors in Detroit. Others worry the party is trading an emphasis on electability for riskier policies and candidates that alienate independent voters. “They’re socialists and I think they’re very focused on using the Democratic Party as a vessel for their extreme ideas,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.).
The Wall Street Journal talked to voters on both sides of the divide, in places where the battle is intense.
Christine McClellan, 72, Detroit
McClellan said she is supporting McKinney because he wants to end American wars overseas. The retiree’s nephew, who serves in the Navy, was supposed to come home in May but remains stationed abroad amid the Israel-Hamas conflict and the U.S. war with Iran.
As fighting has reignited, she can’t stop thinking about what he is experiencing, as well as the civilian death toll in Gaza and Iran.
“My cousin was in the Vietnam War. I don’t know what that war accomplished. I don’t really know what this war is all about,” said McClellan, standing on her porch on a warm day in the Farwell neighborhood. “We need peace.”
Sam Cain, 18, Demarest, N.J.
Cain, a moderate, said the rise of Democratic socialism has pushed him further away from the Democratic Party. As a Jewish American, he said Democrats also aren’t doing enough to curb antisemitism. He has said he would become an independent if Democrats move toward Democratic socialist policies, like public ownership of corporations, which he described as “anti-American.”
He lauded Gottheimer, the Jewish and moderate Democratic lawmaker who represents the New Jersey district where Cain lives. Cain said Democratic socialists aren’t true Democrats.
“A lot of Jews, young and old, are feeling like the Democratic Party doesn’t care about them anymore, while the Republican Party is making efforts to appeal to them,” he said.
Joe Thomas, 77, Detroit
Thomas said McKinney is his top pick now because of the progressive’s housing policies, such as increasing federal oversight of corporate landlords. Living in Detroit for most of his life, Thomas watched friends and neighbors lose their homes throughout the 2008-09 financial crisis, which ravaged Detroit’s manufacturing-based economy.
A retired union plant worker at Chrysler, Thomas said he has voted for Democrats his whole life but doesn’t think they are doing enough to address his community’s needs and help lift up the homeless. McKinney might offer a new path forward, he said.
“The party needs some backbone to it,” Thomas said. “My concern is about people living in the street. And I hope Democrats can wake up and see that issue.”
Peter Wong, 55, New York
Wong, a moderate Democrat living in Brooklyn, voted for Antonio Reynoso, a candidate who lost to Democratic socialist Claire Valdez in a House Democratic primary. Wong said that Democratic socialists are hurting the party’s ability to appeal to more voters because they refuse to compromise on policies even when they might not be practical. He said Democratic socialists are too similar to supporters of President Trump, describing both groups as “intolerant and dogmatic.”
Wong, an I.T. specialist, wants the Democratic Party to appeal to a broad spectrum of voters, including those who might not support every progressive policy or position.
“I would like to see conservative Democrats who might be antiabortion running in red districts,” he said.
Natalie Bui, 38, Denver
Bui, who works in end-of-life care, supported a Democratic socialist for the first time when she voted for Melat Kiros in a House primary in Colorado in June. A Colorado native, Bui values the state’s independent streak but said Democrats haven’t done enough to combat a Republican Party that she sees as pushing the nation further to the right.
She said she previously didn’t think Democratic socialist policies were attainable in America, but said it was worth giving a shot to politicians promising a new direction.
“The right changed their game. The left needs to change their game, too. I wanted to see what that looks like,” Bui said.
Write to Terell Wright at terell.wright@wsj.com
