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Civitas Outlook
Topic
Politics
Published on
Apr 5, 2025
Contributors
Joel Kotkin
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash

Are the Democrats Drifting Further Left?

Contributors
Joel Kotkin
Joel Kotkin
Senior Research Fellow
Joel Kotkin
Summary
Now is a good time to examine what the Democratic party believes in, who its main protagonists are, and what their agenda is.
Summary
Now is a good time to examine what the Democratic party believes in, who its main protagonists are, and what their agenda is.

The Democrats are at a historic ebb and now is a good time to examine what the party believes in, who its main protagonists are and what their agenda is. Amid the fraught divisions in the party, however, one faction is emerging strong: the Big Red One.

That the Left of the party is in the ascendancy is evident at both the local and national level. Rather than let the fallout of Donald Trump’s tariffs speak for itself, the new head of the Democratic National Committee engaged in mad fighting talk. Ken Martin said: “We’re coming. This is a new Democratic Party. We’re taking the gloves off.” Martin draws his support from the likes of prominent anti-Israel figure Attorney General Keith Ellison. He is also a close ally of Left-leaning Minnesota Governor and Kamala Harris running mate Tim Walz, who just released a textbook for students that echoes Critical Race Theory, including an attack on “racial capitalism”.

Martin’s elevation took place in an atmosphere that seemed to one veteran Democrat “like outtakes from a humanities seminar at a small liberal arts college”. And in place of the donor-dominated DNC leadership of the past, Martin has been lionised in the Leftist press, as a “pro-labor progressive” whose positions may offend the party’s donor base. The progressive stranglehold was made even more evident with the election of anti-gun activist David Hogg as Vice Chair of the DNC. Hogg has previously called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), defunding police and has expressed hostility towards Israel. This will no doubt alienate more moderate Democrats.

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