Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Progressives look for reset after disappointing year
PoliticoProgressives started 2020 with the White House within their reach.
They’re ending it in a much more familiar place: on the march in ultra-liberal areas, but still without any mainstream electoral breakthroughs at the national level.
It’s a demoralizing conclusion to a year that began with so much promise. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised hundreds of millions of dollars in grassroots donations and even seized the lead at different times in the presidential primary, but their bids for the highest office stalled. The left also hoped this would be the year it proved that its bold message could capture swing seats in Congress — but that effort flopped, too.
“Progressives are like a superstar young athlete that is supposed to be coming into his prime but has still not established himself as a starter, let alone an all-star,” said Max Berger, the former director of progressive outreach for Warren’s presidential campaign. “We had a better showing this past year than we’ve had in a long time, but it’s still much worse than we might have hoped.”
In interviews with nearly a dozen left-wing elected officials, activists and aides, progressives described 2020 as a mixed bag. They are deeply disappointed by the fall of their standard-bearers in the presidential race and lack of swing-seat trophies in Congress. But they also consider it a serious accomplishment that the so-called Squad in the House is growing and that they proved the upset by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) two years ago was no fluke.
They’re ending it in a much more familiar place: on the march in ultra-liberal areas, but still without any mainstream electoral breakthroughs at the national level.
It’s a demoralizing conclusion to a year that began with so much promise. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) raised hundreds of millions of dollars in grassroots donations and even seized the lead at different times in the presidential primary, but their bids for the highest office stalled. The left also hoped this would be the year it proved that its bold message could capture swing seats in Congress — but that effort flopped, too.
“Progressives are like a superstar young athlete that is supposed to be coming into his prime but has still not established himself as a starter, let alone an all-star,” said Max Berger, the former director of progressive outreach for Warren’s presidential campaign. “We had a better showing this past year than we’ve had in a long time, but it’s still much worse than we might have hoped.”
In interviews with nearly a dozen left-wing elected officials, activists and aides, progressives described 2020 as a mixed bag. They are deeply disappointed by the fall of their standard-bearers in the presidential race and lack of swing-seat trophies in Congress. But they also consider it a serious accomplishment that the so-called Squad in the House is growing and that they proved the upset by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) two years ago was no fluke.
8 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
