Left-leaning challengers in the Rust belt are throwing chaos into a divided party struggling to rebuild after Trump’s win

From Detroit to Pennsylvania to Buffalo, New York, and here in Ohio, insurgent, progressive Democrats are defeating their long-established colleagues in dozens of school board, city council and mayoral races, throwing the already-divided national party into chaos, even as polls indicate it stands to potentially benefit at next year’s midterm elections due to the Trump administration’s divisive policies.

In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one of seven swing states whose voters in recent years have decided the country’s presidential election, 37-year-old Jaime Arroyo was elected mayor on 4 November, becoming the first Latino mayor in the city’s 295-year history. In La Crosse, Wisconsin, another swing state, Shaundel Washington-Spivey, the city’s first Black and out gay mayor, beat a fellow Democratic party candidate with extensive local government experience last April.

Candidates such as Turner-Sloss, Arroyo and Washington-Spivey are campaigning on combating rising housing costs and providing better public transit infrastructure at a time when affordability issues and federal government policies are driving many working families into crisis.

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[–] 146 points 11 months ago* (21 children)

this phrasing is biased in a scare-mongering way

no, it's not a monster driving fear into a few true Democrats

it's Democrats with integrity resuming course against oligarch traitors who don't belong in politics after sabotage to the american people time and time again

this is a long time coming and we applaud

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  • [–] 15 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    I mean, I find it hard to not read "the Dem establishment is scared" as a positive. Even if I'm seeing outside my own hatred for the establishment, disestablishmentarianism is generally a winning position in the US (Trumpism could succinctly be described as "dumb disestablishmentarianism")

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  • [–] 21 points 11 months ago (15 children)

    I'm just saying, conservatives don't complain about the nazis as much as democrats complain about progressives

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  • [+] -10 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    I only ever see it the other way, progressives complaining about democrats not being pure enough, not being hardcore enough, while they don't have to go actually campaign and win votes in those areas to understand why the democrats have to moderate themselves to appeal to actual voters.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago

    Establishment Dems have spent too much time listening to the Conservative Propaganda Machine, and have come to believe that we are a right wing nation, and have become essentially the Republican-Lite Party.

    Progressives are finally reminding the cowardly Establishment Dems that they owe their loyalty to the left, and it's time to stop appeasing MAGAs.

    If the Dems ever get our government back, it won't be enough to be just another placeholder administration whose primary responsibility is to just mark time while the American people forget MAGAs treason and corruption, and let them cheat their way into power again.

    MAGA is not a political party, it is an organized criminal entity disguised as a political party. The next time, the Dems have to show true courage, and ruthlessly purge MAGA from our government and our society, and prohibit any MAGA from ever holding office under 14A/S3.

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  • [+] -10 points 11 months ago (6 children)
  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    If they are progressive, then why are they scared of progressives running?

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  • [+] -3 points 11 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago* (3 children)

    They being the establishment Democrats. And working as a civilian at the local air force base isn't exactly a red flag to me. I mean, I held my nose and voted for the DA. Even ignoring her policies on fracking and the campaign advice she was getting from her brother in law. The brother in law who is quite complicit in destroying the working class btw.

    Anyway, here's some nuance from Wikipedia concerning Turner-Sloss. Her backing by many progressive organizations. And how the establishment Democratic Party for the county conspired against her. They are the they I am referring too.

    "Turner-Sloss was first elected in 2021, garnering about 29% of the votes in the 4-way general election.[13][15][16] She campaigned alongside incumbent commissioner Darryl Fairchild,[17] who finished in second and was re-elected to another term. In that election Turner-Sloss was endorsed by the Ohio Working Families Party,[18] Our Revolution Ohio, the Dayton chapter of the Sunrise Movement,[19] and other progressive organizations and labor unions including her own, the American Federation of Government Employees local 1138.[2]

    Though a member of the Democratic Party, she has been considered "outside the establishment".[20] She was not endorsed by the Montgomery County Democratic Party during any of her campaigns, including the successful one in 2021. In fact, the Montgomery County Democratic Party released attack ads against Turner-Sloss and Fairchild, for which the Ohio Democratic Party issued an apology, stating that the ads "violated several of their mailer policies.".[21] The controversy resulted in the resignation of the county party's Executive Director,[22] the retirement of the county party Chair,[23] and an official apology of the county party Central Committee which stated that "Commissioner Fairchild and candidate Turner-Sloss – and all their supporters – are valued members of the county party."[22]

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago

    This article more commentates on where The Guardian stands on this. It's pretty obvious they are an establishment Democratic party supporter much like virtually every "liberal" media outlet in existence.

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  • [–] 61 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    I think most democrats have been voting for democrats while wishing they were more left. Voting for democrats hasn't been about liking the candidates. It's been more about disliking the opposing candidates.

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  • [–] -3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    One side was hammering on about terrorising minorities for years.

    So yeah, if its a bad choice to avoid literal death threats from the government, a bad choice is better than death.

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  • [–] 19 points 11 months ago

    if its a bad choice to avoid literal death threats from the government, a bad choice is better than death.

    What this sentiment always ignored, is there's no reason it has to be a "bad choice" and shitty candidates aren't good enough to consistently win.

    Fucking wild people are still saying that in 2025 though

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  • [–] 42 points 11 months ago (18 children)

    Perhaps US can finally get what it deserves, a true left.

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  • [+] -21 points 11 months ago* (17 children)
  • [–] 30 points 11 months ago (1 child)

    The GOP got where it is today by repeatedly replacing establishment Republicans with more conservative republicans, until 'right wing nutjob' became the baseline. I no longer believe that replacing Republicans with corporate democrats will make things change. Slow the bleeding, maybe, but not change. Replacing corporate Democrats with progressives is the only way we're going to move the needle now.

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  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago (14 children)

    Ah, yes, "left" like Chuck Schumer.

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  • [+] -10 points 11 months ago* (13 children)
  • [–] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

    If Chuck Schumer were replaced last election, what would have changed?

    We'd have had one fewer senator organizing the Dem capitulation caucus. We'd have also had one fewer senator capitulating to Trump in March. Maybe, just maybe, someone willing to fucking do anything about Trump would've been in office. Also if he was replaced in, say, 2019 there would have been one fewer pro-genocide reactionary voting to give Israel everything it wants.

    and with even a simple majority so much suffering would be completely avoided.

    *Delayed. It would've been delayed, just as it was in 2020, because that's the thing: Democrats don't fucking do anything. Their favorite excuse is the filibuster, but they can just get rid of it. It's literally that simple. Whether this is incompetence or malice (though it's obviously the latter), the Democratic establishment needs to go before anything resembling progress can happen. You'll never get fewer Republicans if their competition is Joe "nothing will fundamentally change" Biden or Kamala "most lethal army in the world" Harris. Trump is the result of 50 years of Democrats gargling corporate balls is Trump, and you'll never get rid of Trump if you don't do something about the corporate balls.

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  • [+] 2 points 11 months ago* (4 children)
  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago* (3 children)

    DNC have had 48 or often less seats for over 10 years.

    And is that because they're terrible at winning or because they don't want to win? Take your pick. Either way they need to go.

    The last time the DNC had a real majority, not even a supermajority, was the most productive congress in decades.

    And they used that opportunity to pass checks notes Romneycare. So productive.

    Dems have spent decades taxing corporations and limiting their ability to influence politics and they get no credit for that endless uphill battle.

    If they've spent decades fighting that "battle" and this is the result, maybe they're not actually fighting at all.

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  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    Schumer and any other dem is still better than any Republican

    Yes, but that's an irresponsibly low bar. Aim higher.

    Schumer hasn't done nearly enough to oppose Trump and spends more effort supporting genocide and opposing his own party. Like why the fuck was he siding with Trump against Mamdani?

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  • [+] 0 points 11 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    Aiming low also doesn't accomplish anything if the candidate doesn't win, and we've seen too many candidates lose after moving to the right.

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  • [+] 0 points 11 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (2 children)

    Harris. She started out somewhat progressive and was leading in the polls, and then she started campaigning with Liz Cheney and focus was on support from CEOs. I'm fairly sure that turn to the right contributed to her loss.

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  • [+] 1 point 11 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago

    She wasn't extreme radical left, and went out of her way to appeal to the right. She refused to embrace even widely supported ideas like Medicare for All or condemning genocide. Mamdani, on the other hand, is unapologetically left, and won in a landslide.

    Americans support far more progressive policies than many people believe, including themselves. Focus on policies that will help regular people, instead of the billionaires, and you will win.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    Well, if incumbent Dems don't do their job and perform as a working opposition, its the peoples' right to find some who actually represent the voters.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    Let me know when Dems stop fighting actual leftists (the ones fully against capitalism, not the ones that think giving poor people crumbs while flying a pride flag is good enough)

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  • [+] -9 points 11 months ago (11 children)

    progressive Democrats

    That's a contradiction

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  • [–] 17 points 11 months ago* (10 children)

    Really? Bernie Sanders, AOC, or Illhan Omar aren't a historical representation of progressive Democrats?

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  • [+] -9 points 11 months ago (8 children)

    Do they call for dismantling the nuclear arsenal and banning all carbon fuels (the two biggest existential threats to all life on earth)?

    I'm talking about progressives, not center-left.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

    That's always been the left's weakness: not knowing when a battle not yet taken constitutes a fundamental undermining of the claim about progressiveness. Some battles are going to have to be saved for a future generation. Let's focus on securing the winnable battles today: universal health-insurance (Luigi wouldn't be a folk hero today if it were what we had) and decarbonization (that took a huuuge leap in the last few years with how accessible solar power is now). The grandkids can work on de-nucularization.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago* (1 child)

    What? Why not both?

    Stop thinking like a Democrat. If you move to the right, you'll loose the vote. Be a proud progressive, and people will be ecstatic to vote for you

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

    Okay? Here's what it actually is. Nuclear missiles have defensive uses that make them still useful, and it'll probably take a while longer for us to decide how to maintain their utility while also ending the threat of a nuclear apocalypse.

    How do nuclear warheads have life-saving utility beyond being a doomsday device? Well, we probably need to launch a nuclear missile to bomb asteroid 2024 YR4 within the next few years to push it off course so it doesn't hit the moon, which would throw up a bunch of big debris that would fall to Earth and kill a bunch of people. Maybe not planet-killing debris, but city-killing probably.

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  • [+] 3 points 11 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    Don't spread misinformation.

    Biden and Obama both supported the continued burning of fossil fuels and keeping the nuclear arsenal.

    EVs and reducing the nukes is not a solution. We need a progressive who will end it. Now.

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  • [+] -16 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    BlueMAGA flavored "progressives". How wonderful LMBO

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