The Democratic Party is lurching further to the left and the old, more centrist remnants of the party are losing their grip on power. The 2016 presidential race was a last gasp for the Clinton establishment of the Democrats. The election in 2020 is going to be bizarre.
Washington (CNN) A crowded Democratic House primary in the Houston area has become a stand-in for the broader battle within the party between progressives who backed Bernie Sanders and members of the establishment.
The controversy erupted more than a week ago, when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s political arm for House races, unleashed a scathing attack against journalist and activist Laura Moser, one of seven candidates in the Texas 7th District Democratic primary to take on Republican Rep. John Culberson this fall.Now, with two days left before the Texas primary on Tuesday, the infighting has opened wounds within the Democratic Party that never quite healed after the 2016 election, when Sanders supporters accused the Democratic National Committee of tipping the scales in favor of Hillary Clinton.
Our Revolution, the political organization that controls Bernie Sanders’ massive email list, endorsed Moser on Thursday.“The DCCC’s ridiculous attacks on Laura Moser are why Democrats nationally have lost over 1,100 seats,” said Jim Hightower, an Our Revolution board member. “The people of Texas should be allowed to make their own decisions on who to vote for without the influence of Washington insiders.”
There’s been lots of talk about a supposed civil war brewing within the Democratic Party, as its centrist and progressive wings vie for power. But at least as a matter of presidential politics, this talk isn’t premature — it’s too late. The war may not have been won but the eventual victor is clear: By the end of the 2020 presidential primaries, an increasingly liberal grass-roots activist base is likely to have gained full control of the party.
The party that nominated Barack Obama to the presidency almost a decade ago had moved considerably to the left by the end of his second term. Hillary Clinton was barely able to withstand these changes in her campaign against Bernie Sanders. She ultimately secured the nomination by harnessing the remnants of the decaying Democratic political apparatus and racking up overwhelming support from the appointed super delegates.
and this is key,
The likely changes in the 2020 Democratic primary process will also push the party further to the left. The revelations in former party chair Donna Brazile’s new book will put pressure on the Democratic National Committee’s leadership to make the nomination process more transparent, while reducing the influence of the establishment in the primaries. Perhaps even more significantly, moving the California primary up to March 3 will push the candidates to take increasingly progressive positions on issues that appeal to this rich bounty of voters.
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