Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), appearing with four progressives who won in swing seats in the midterms, called for Democrats to pass populist legislation “every week” in the next term focusing on corporate corruption, lower costs, and higher wages. The Progressive Caucus, which expects to welcome at least 25 new members, and will begin the upcoming 120th Congress with more than 100, is putting down an early marker on how Democrats should conduct themselves, with what is likely to be one of the biggest House majorities since the early 1990s.

“We have won immense amounts of political power, and now is the most important time to deliver to keep that power,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), a vice chair of the caucus and co-chair of the CPC’s political action committee, which spent millions of dollars in swing seats this year. “The way we’re going to keep Democrats in office is by passing bold pieces of legislation that show you when you vote Democrats in office, your life will get better.”

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a former CPC chair who still co-chairs the PAC, concurred. “We are not popular as a Democratic Party across the country right now,” Jayapal said. “We’ve got a shot to show that we can deliver on the bold populist change people ran on and won on.”

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20261105130708/https://prospect.org/2026/11/04/progressive-caucus-wants-to-deliver-on-democratic-promises/

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[–] 15 points 2 days ago (14 children)

Why should a politician care about your opinion if you've proven that you're not going to do the most basic ass thing in a democracy and vote to put or keep them in office?

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  • [–] -3 points 1 day ago (13 children)

    Why should a Democrat or Republican care if you do vote for them? They've already got what they wanted from you and can pretty safely assume you won't switch parties if they do a bad job, so there's very little incentive to do anything to rock the boat once election day is over.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago* (4 children)

    They absolutely do care about votes. Most members of Congress start working on re-election as soon as they're elected. Votes re-elect them.

    A single vote usually isn't powerful but collectively votes are extremely powerful.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    Look it took one day for Democrats to declare they aren't the opposition party and want to work with Trump. Just more proof Dems and Republicans are two sides of the same coin. When they tell (and show) you they aren't interested in opposing Republicans, believe them. They clearly don't give a shit about the will of the voters just as I said.

    https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/78070344

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  • [–] 5 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

    You think this is a new thought? Cause that's what the primaries are for. But you didn't vote, so idc about what mental gymnastics you need to do to justify your bullshit. Either do something real about it or get off your high horse and slug it out in the electorial season's trenches with the rest of us.

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  • [–] 2 points 21 hours ago* (1 child)

    Who said I didnt vote? And no its not a new thought because the right wing liberals running the DNC are doing everything in their power to keep things shitty and they're relentless with their nonsense.

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  • [–] 1 point 21 hours ago (7 children)

    You've never heard of a primary?

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  • [–] 2 points 20 hours ago (1 child)

    While I agree with your points completely, keep in mind the results of primaries are not legally binding in the United States. Political parties are legally considered private organizations with the right to determine their own nominating rules.

    Voters need to show political parties there will be consequences if they rig their game. The simple act of voting shows someone likely give enough fucks to notice and do something should that happen.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 hours ago

    So far they haven't broken the precedent, and the tradition of democratic primaries is still strong enough that I don't think the Dems would break it.

    And they know that if they ever do, there would be backlash. Someone would run as an independent, and if that spoils the vote and gets a republican elected, then the blame would fall squarely on the party leadership who refused to honor the results of the primary.

    So let's not make up hypothetical doom scenarios. We have enough doom in front of us without admixing our imaginations with reality.

    But yes, the act of voting shows them we're serious, and gives them a reason to care what we think. That's why boycotting elections is stupid (among other reasons).

    And besides, if we didn't vote then they wouldn't need to ignore the results of the primaries to begin with, because they'd already be getting their chosen candidate anyway.

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  • [–] -1 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

    Yes and I've seen the DNC put their thumbs on the scale to ensure that progressives lose to liberals and the resulting consequence of that (like Trump's election in 2016 and again in 2024)

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  • [–] 4 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

    Is that why the progressive caucus gained 25 seats this week?

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  • [–] 2 points 20 hours ago

    They'll absolutely try to sway a primary, as they have before, but they won't have the bollocks to completely deny the will of their constituents so long as those same constituents care enough to tear them down should they try.

    Failing to engage in the democratic process in the smallest way possible, simply voting, is a clear way to signal that you'll do nothing if they tried.

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