Democrats are split on the future of their party as a swell of candidates linked to democratic socialist policies have seen a series of primary victories in blue seats and a handful of key swing races.
A split between two core factions of Democrats—progressives, left-wing populists, and democratic socialists on one side, and centrists, moderates, and establishmentarians on the other—has simmered just beneath the surface of Democratic Party politics since 2016.
Now, Democratic candidates with ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), proponents of democratic-socialist policies, and progressives who have eschewed the label have begun to rack up wins in key races.
In the highest-profile case recently, epidemiologist Abdul El-Sayed—who ran as a progressive outsider rather than a democratic socialist—defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) for the Democratic Senate nomination.
For Democratic voters and decision-makers, it’s prompted a moment of reflection and debate on how to move forward.
In Wisconsin, Democratic voters made clear that they’re not necessarily decided in favor of the insurgent faction, selecting establishment-backed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley for the nomination over state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist whose nomination had seemed inevitable.
There is no universally accepted definition of democratic socialism, though its supporters and critics would generally agree on its core policy features.
Under democratic socialist systems, such as those found in Scandinavia, the wealthy pay a much higher share of taxes to finance extensive social and welfare policies. As democratic systems, they are managed by representatives elected by the people.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a high-profile advocate of the system in U.S. politics, has defined it as entailing similar ends to those pursued under the New Deal, describing it as a system similar to the high-tax, high-spending approach pursued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Critics say that these policies lead to communism, while their supporters say that democratic socialism is a distinct system.
The DSA offers a more radical form of democratic socialism that would entail major changes to the structure of the U.S. government and wide-ranging policy changes.
“Capitalism is a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit,” the DSA wrote on a webpage providing its definition of the system democratic socialism. “We must replace it with democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.”
The organization’s platform calls for abolishing the U.S. Senate and Electoral College, replacing the presidency with congressional leadership akin to a parliamentary system, adopting a multi-party system, and abolishing ICE and the current prison system.
The organization’s specific planks include a call for single-payer healthcare, government assistance for tuition and childcare, guaranteed jobs, expanded retirement benefits, universal paid family leave, rent control, and expanding affordable housing.
Ideological disputes with the democratic socialist and progressive factions of the party have raged within the party establishment for over a decade.
In 2016, Sanders launched his left-wing populist bid—describing himself as a democratic socialist—that nearly cost former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the nomination.
In that case, the Democratic establishment sided firmly with Clinton, with only 47 of the uncommitted superdelegates backing Sanders, compared to over 600 for Clinton.
In 2025, the dispute came to national attention after New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani—who has open ties to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—successfully won his long-shot election for New York City mayor.
Since then, a surge of anti-establishment sentiment in primaries from DSA- and non-DSA-backed candidates alike has spread nationwide—driven by both a boost in confidence after Mamdani’s victory and broader voter dissatisfaction with the state of the economy.
Eastern Michigan University professor of political science Joshua Koss said that Michigan, in the aftermath of El-Sayed’s victory, represents a microcosm of the conflict.
“In a lot of ways, the Michigan Democratic Senate primaries kind of resembled sort of a microcosm of some of this broader discussion we’re seeing within the Democratic Party at the national level,” Koss said. “You have sort of your more kind of ‘establishment’ mainstream wing that’s represented by Stevens ... and then Abdul Al-Sayed, who is not endorsed by the DSA, but sort of, you know, kind of, in that DSA-adjacent outsider wing of the party.”
For some Democratic voters, merely being associated with the establishment has been enough to drive opposition.
Paul Tramp, an al-Sayed voter, told The Epoch Times, “Stevens seems a little more … tied into the mainstream.”
Tramp said he had otherwise tuned out of politics.
Mamdani’s victory marked the first major win for the rising wing of the party.
Dale Nook, leader of the Bayview team of the Wisconsin Democrats, told The Epoch Times that enthusiasm about Mamdani’s victory and platform—Mamdani ran on raising taxes on the wealthy and expanding the city’s social services—had percolated among Democratic voters.
“I’m excited about everything in New York, and he’s doing everything he said he was going to do,” Nook said, also referencing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who he said also “defeated a centrist Democrat in an upset, and she’s also been an excellent legislator.”
In his Milwaukee-suburb office of the Democratic Party, Nook said he had seen considerably more enthusiasm among young Democrats in the wake of Mamdani’s victory.
Youth voters have driven the leftward shift in the Democratic Party, as many feel they face a system that’s apathetic and in need of reform.
“I think what’s happening in the government right now is not really great,” Trianthy Sepsakos, a voter in Ann Arbor, Michigan, told The Epoch Times.
“We need something different because what Republicans are doing, I don’t think is helping the American people,” Sepsakos said.
Kelsey, a Democratic volunteer in Milwaukee who didn’t provide her last name, told The Epoch Times that affordability was a key concern for these voters.
“The cost of living combined with student loans is absolutely killing people of my generation, and I think Gen Z is suffering from it too,” Kelsey said.
—Joseph Lord and Jacob Burg
BOOKMARKS
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin closed his party’s summer meeting in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 15 by calling the Democratic Party a “big tent” and telling members to stop applying litmus tests to one another. The Epoch Times’ Chase Smith reported that speakers who followed him over the next hour demonstrated how much room that tent is being asked to cover.
President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea over the weekend, The Epoch Times’ Jackie Thrapp reported. Trump highlighted the expense of the exercises and suggested that it sent the wrong signal to North Korea, which Trump said had been “unthreatening and respectful” to the U.S. during his presidency.
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At least 294 migrants attempting to enter Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta were arrested by Moroccan police on Aug. 15, according to state media. The Epoch Times’ Jacki Thrapp reported the migrants were identified as having come to Morocco from sub-Saharan Africa. The crossing attempt occurred after social media posts of “unknown origin” called for a mass crossing on Saturday, according to Moroccan authorities.
