Progressives soaring after big primary night

Progressives crowed Wednesday after a number of their candidates scored pivotal wins in Tuesday’s primaries, pushing back against the notion that the party’s left flank faces barriers to electability. 

Cori Bush, a candidate backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Justice Democrats, scored the biggest victory of the night, ousting longtime Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.). 

Progressive Michigan state Rep. Jon Hoadley (D) won the Democratic primary in the state’s 6th Congressional District, setting him up to go head-to-head with Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.). Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also coasted to a primary win.

The progressive gains also extended down-ballot, with St. Louis City Treasurer Tishaura Jones and prosecutor Kim Gardner winning their primaries.

“The progressive wing of the party is ascendant,” said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. 

Progressives argue that the wins underscore an embrace by voters of their candidates and issues. In Missouri, a state where President Trump will be a big favorite this fall, a majority of voters voted to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It is the sixth state in three years to pass such a ballot measure.

“If mainstream Democrats think that running on a progressive agenda in a red state is problematic, I think the popularity of the Medicaid expansion, that single issue, is significant,” Geevarghese said.

Strategists say the wins show voters’ desire for new faces. Clay had served in Congress for two decades, but went down to defeat weeks after longtime Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.). Engel fell to another progressive, Jamaal Bowman.

“People want to see fresh blood,” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist and former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). “People want to see fresh leadership. If a certain member has been in power for 30-plus years, no matter how much great work they’ve done, respect they’ve engendered over those decades, that’s still a lot of decades.” 

The wins build on other victories in 2018, when several progressives won election to the House including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who unseated a longtime incumbent in Rep. Joseph Crowley (D).

“You’ve shown that the power of grassroots, mass-movement politics is stronger than gatekeepers & big money — it’s about advancing the tide of justice whose time has come,” Ocasio-Cortez, who did not endorse Bush in the primary, said in a tweet congratulating Bush on her victory. 

Progressives hope the victories will give them leverage against establishment leaders like presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden who argue for more incremental steps on policy such as health care.

“Even though Bernie did not prevail at the top of the ticket, it is a clear message to Joe Biden and the other members of the political establishment,” Geevarghese said. “The base doesn’t want incrementalism.”