So, after what I believe to be a Chuck Schumer–orchestrated surrender — in which a group of the following Democrats sold us out:
Hassan, King, Cortez-Masto, Shaheen, Kaine, Fetterman, Durbin, and Rosen —
From which only two or three will ever really face reelection again (many intend to retire, and the rest aren’t up for at least two election cycles) —
I’ve learned a lesson.
A lesson which, according to political analysts from publications like Politico to The Economist (and many others), is exactly the wrong lesson for Democrats to take from the last election cycle.
That lesson is this:
We need a whole lot more Zohran Mamdanis to primary a whole lot more Andrew Cuomos.
Now, the reason large swaths of the political class argue against more Mamdanis is that a left-wing populist approach might succeed in deep-blue New York City — which reliably votes Democrat anyway — but that in other districts or states, might, and in fact is likely to, alienate moderate voters needed to win national power.
The argument basically contends that we cannot win national elections if we take the approach of electing firebrand progressives.
Although, I would argue they don’t need to be firebrand progressives so much as people willing to actually stand for something besides allegiance to the donor class.
However, what these think pieces seem to contend — but don’t exactly say — is that, presumably, what we need are more Tim Kaines, more Angus Kings, more John Fettermans, and fewer AOCs.
You see, instead of standing firmly for principles, we need to show we are willing to be more “sensible” about things like kicking 20 million people off health care.
We have to show we’re willing to compromise with the GOP on these kinds of issues — “reach across the aisle” and all that. Maybe even give the GOP a little bonus when we doom 50,000 Americans to die from lack of health care.
Of course, these analysts agree we need people who will stand up to Trump — but we have to make sure it’s not at the high cost of the donor class being inconvenienced at airports with their private jets.
That’s a red line we cannot cross. Otherwise, how could we possibly win an election?
Now, I do want to be clear: I don’t think this issue is so much a progressive vs. centrist thing.
Governor Pritzker is not close to a Democratic Socialist. He simply seems to stand on principle. He seems willing to fight to save democracy.
And that’s the crux of it. Republicans seem to be winning elections just fine by running people firmly in favor of destroying democracy. Not exactly moderates that bunch. But God forbid we elect someone willing to do whatever it takes to defend it.
Their argument seems to be that we need more Cuomos friendly with Wall Street who will bend the knee to protect New York from Donald Trump’s invasion you know Centrists.
I say we need more Mamdanis who will fight back against an illegal invasion — not work with the invader.
Which brings me back to the Senate.
My belief is that the Senate is full of octogenarians who have no intention of ever stepping aside and letting the younger generation try to fix things.
Many will happily die in their positions — as my Senator Dianne Feinstein did — before they’ll step down or surrender their power.
We need to start primarying these Democrats.
We need these people to be a little more scared of the base.
We need to show we have long memories.
After the formal Surrender to Trump yesterday, I saw Indivisible posted this on Bluesky. I promptly donated.
x
After yesterday’s surrender, we’re launching the largest Democratic primary program that we’ve ever run.
We will not back any Senate primary candidate unless they call for Schumer to step down as Minority Leader.
If you’re as pissed as we are, join this campaign to rebuild the Democratic Party. 👇
— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) 2025-11-11T00:00:14.074Z
I realize a fair amount of folks are going to come out and say, this is divisive, we need unity and so on and so on. to which I would say, where was party unity with the Democratic nominee in New York? Why didn’t Schumer endorse the will of the voters there?
What we need are fighters above all else. If Democrats don’t grow a spine to fight literal fascism, we need to find ones that already have one.
Otherwise even if we win it will be pretty meaningless. Because when we say Alright now we can fix the court, Restore, Roe, Improve Obamacare, address wealth inequality. We will hear:
Sorry the filibuster prevents us from doing that, and this small group of retiring Senators, just won’t budge on removing it, but hey, the rest of are all for it!
