Are Insurgent Democrats Breaking the Party — or Rebuilding It?

**Amanda Litman** (0:00)
If you don't like DSA, it is possible for the establishment wings of the party or the old guard to offer a different vision. The fact that they have instead chosen to punch left, it's like, make an argument.

**Kara Swisher** (0:23)
Hi, everyone, from New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher. We're just a few months away from the midterm elections, if you can believe it, and with President Trump's popularity in the toilet, Democrats have a great chance of winning back power in Congress. But the party has been rocked by a group of insurgent progressive candidates that have unseated some longtime incumbents. We saw it happen in New York and Colorado, and all eyes are now on Michigan's Senate primary in a few weeks to see whether a progressive centrist can win there. It's an existential election year for Democrats, and the party will have to navigate these divides in real time as it tries to chart a path out of the political wilderness.
The cautionary tale, of course, is Graham Plattner in Maine, who wrote a wave of populist enthusiasm to the party's Senate nomination only to drop out earlier this month when a former girlfriend accused him of rape. He denies it. I've got three experts here to talk about this. Adam Jentleson is the president and founder of Searchlight Institute, a Democratic think tank. He also served as chief of staff to Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, and his new book, Supermajority, How Democrats Can Build Lasting Power comes out in September. Amanda Litman is the co-founder and president of Run for Something. It's a progressive political group that works to recruit and support first-time candidates in states and local races.
Roshni Nedungadi is founding partner and chief research officer of HIT Strategies, a public opinion research company that specializes in searching young people and people of color. I think what's really important right now is that the Democrats seem to always form a firing squad that shoots inward. What's really important is to shoot outward, and it'll be interesting to see if they can tolerate differences of opinion, including from the left and the more conservative parts of the Democratic Party and still win elections. That's what I want to talk about. Let's get into my conversation with Adam, Amanda, and Roshni. Our expert question comes from Democratic political strategist Liz Smith. Don't go anywhere.
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**Kara Swisher** (3:52)
It is on. Adam, Amanda, and Roshni, thank you for coming on On.

**Adam Jentleson** (3:57)
Great to be here.

**Amanda Litman** (3:58)
Thank you for having us. Thanks.

**Kara Swisher** (4:00)
There's been a lot of ink spilled on the rise of these insurgent candidates in the Democratic Party. I'd love for each of you, what is the lens through which you're viewing this divide? Is it moderate versus centrist, insider versus outsider, young versus old? Why don't we start with you, Adam, then Amanda, then Roshni?

**Adam Jentleson** (4:18)
I mean, there's definitely an ideological component to it. You can't avoid that. The platforms that a lot of these insurgent candidates are running on are very clear. They often have a lot in common, things like Medicare for All.
The war in Gaza is a huge issue, driving a lot of this. But I think if you were doing all those positions, but you didn't have the outsider versus insider dynamic, they wouldn't be getting the traction they're getting. So, I think it's a combination of those two things. They happen to be young. They are definitely outsiders. But they're also, a lot of the passion behind them, what's driving the movement does have these strong ideological components to it as well.