Wouldn’t a democratic voter pick a ham sandwich over someone pardoned by Trump and has voted in line with everything Trump has asked of him since the pardon?

The last time a progressive ran against him, the party threw everything it had behind Cuellar. This was before trump pardoned him, but after he made it clear that he was an anti-choice anti-labor pro-nra candidate. Cuellar won by something like 500 votes.

Any progressive candidate has to fight against the Democratic party to win the nomination and then if they win anyway, they have to fight the Republican candidate with a depleted war chest and no support from their own party. Or as Mamdani showed, active antagonism from their own party.