Opinion: Democrats and Socialists Must Unite for Midterms
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- A. Scott Bolden argues in The Hill that Democrats must rally around primary winners across all factions — centrists, liberals, progressives, and democratic socialists — to win at least one congressional chamber in the November midterms.
- Three democratic socialists won House primary races in New York City in June 2026, defeating incumbent Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, while Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) also lost her primary to a socialist challenger.
- Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary for mayor in Washington, D.C., joining Zohran Mamdani (NYC) and Katie Wilson (Seattle), both elected in 2025, as proof of the faction's electoral viability.
- President Trump has labeled democratic socialists "the biggest threat to our nation," a danger greater than World Wars I and II or 9/11 — a claim Bolden calls absurd.
- Bolden credits democratic socialists with superior campaign messaging — "poetry" in the words of the late Gov. Mario Cuomo — but insists governing will require working with mainstream Democrats to fund their costly proposals.
- Congressional Republicans, per Bolden, have enabled Trump's tariffs, his war of choice against Iran, mass deportations, DEI rollbacks, and tax cuts for the wealthy, all of which have fueled inflation and made Democratic victories essential.
Why it matters: A Democratic congressional majority would let the party block Trump's legislative agenda, launch oversight hearings, and investigate how Trump allegedly monetized the presidency. The surge of democratic socialist primary wins has fundamentally reshaped the party's coalition — and Bolden is warning that infighting over those victories could cost Democrats the general election they need to actually check Trump.
