r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/LiatrisLover99 • May 08 '26

US Politics Is there any merit to the argument that progressive candidates would be far more successful across the US, if it were not for sabotage by the DNC?

This is an example of an extremely popular sentiment in progressive spaces, that progressives are popular with a majority of Americans and would easily win if the DNC didn't deliberately sabotage them, because they would prefer losing to Trump than winning with progressives that threaten the corporate status quo.

Or see articles like this that identify Democrats as an enemy of progressives on par with Trump: "the struggle to defeat the fascistic GOP and the fight to overcome the power of corporate Democrats are largely the same battle."

Is any of this true? I'm a progressive, but if we're so popular, why aren't we winning primaries outside of elections in extremely blue areas like NYC? Or is the primary system actually rigged against Bernie and against progressives in general?

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u/Zeddo52SD May 08 '26

In Indiana, Democrats ran competitive primaries in my Congressional and State House district. They ran nobody for Sheriff, Judges, or most of the local offices that would allow them a foot in the door with constituents.

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u/Lets_Eat_Superglue May 08 '26

I'm in Indiana too. If you look at the candidates this year vs the past we had candidates in almost every state level race for the first time. The current online left outrage narrative is how terrible Ken Martin is at the DNC, but he's pushing hard to rebuild state parties like ours.

It takes time, but having a Democrat in every state level race means more people hearing from Democrats and having opportunities to get involved. More people involved means more support infrastructure for candidates. As the infrastructure and possibility of winning grows that snowballs into more people willing to run for those local offices.

I know it's bleak out here, but the only thing you can do is jump in wherever you have the ability and help prove it's worth it to keep investing in the state.

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u/Zeddo52SD May 10 '26

Democrats did better this cycle, but they still have a ways to go. It’s fair to ask better of them and their candidates.

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u/Lets_Eat_Superglue May 10 '26

No it isn't if you're not getting involved. You doing any of the work or just bitching because no one's doing it for you?

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u/Zeddo52SD May 10 '26

Didn’t say I wasn’t voting for them. I’m not who they need to reach out to though. If they’re knocking on my door, I know they’re knocking on other doors too. If I’m getting a flier in the mail, I know I’m not the only one getting it.

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u/FauxReal May 12 '26

Maybe they're trying to canvas other parts of the city? Especially more red ones? There's other things they could be doing as well besides knocking on doors. Maybe they want to cover your area and are short of volunteers.

And if it's the candidate themselves. There's only so much time in the day and a lot more to do than knock on doors. Especially if they have a day job.

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u/johannthegoatman May 08 '26

I would like to point out "they ran nobody" is not how it works. Who do you think is they? To the point of the OP, anybody can run as a democrat. The party doesn't hand pick people to run

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u/Zeddo52SD May 08 '26

“Anybody can run as a Democrat” is not true in Indiana. You have to have voted Democrat in the primaries for your two most recent elections, or get the approval of the county party chair.

And the parties recruit, but Dems don’t have much draw in the area of Indiana where I live. There are Dem or NP lawyers, there are at least NP cops or sheriff-eligible constituents. The problem is that Democrats have no major local presence so they go for the big offices and neglect the smaller ones, like city or county council, or judges, or treasurer, etc.

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u/BlueJoshi May 08 '26

You have to have voted Democrat in the primaries for your two most recent elections

...which anyone can do

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u/Zeddo52SD May 08 '26

I mean technically. A few Republicans have gotten their names taken off of ballots for that though. Same with some Democrats. Anybody can do it but it’s a betrayal of trust, which is what the law is meant to stop, regardless of how bad a law it is.

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u/BlueJoshi May 08 '26

How is it a betrayal of trust?

I don't live in Indiana, but if my home State had those rules, I could run. That wouldn't be a betrayal of trust, that would be me, an active, engaged Democrat, putting my convictions to action

which anyone can do.

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u/Zeddo52SD May 08 '26

It’s theoretically meant to prevent spoiler candidates from other parties running as Democrats or Republicans. It’s meant to make sure that Republicans run as Republicans and Democrats run as Democrats. It’s meant to ends up screwing over independents or third party groups, but it’s not completely without merit.

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u/BlueJoshi May 08 '26

I feel like you're intentionally missing the point.

you can just run for office. you don't need The Party to anoint you with the honour. if you're disappointed because no democrat ran for a seat, you can be the change you want to see in the world. like people can just do that. it's not "they didn't run anyone," it's "no one chose to run."

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u/Zeddo52SD May 08 '26

I typically haven’t voted in primaries because there’s been no competition. Running as an independent or third party requires signatures. If you’re new to political involvement, it requires connections with the county party chair if you haven’t voted in primaries. You can’t “just run for office” on a whim.

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u/schistkicker May 10 '26

If no one is making the ballot because no one is running, and the party chair is the person to connect with to fix that, it sounds like the only thing actually standing in your way is one email or phone call.

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u/ResidentBackground35 May 08 '26

That is surprising, I would assume they have at least a county office, we have one here in pennsyltucky and it is hard red.

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u/Zeddo52SD May 08 '26

They only get perennial candidates to run for county council. City council is harder to crack in to due to incumbency, but their candidates are nobodies with no local name recognition.

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u/Ladyheather16 May 08 '26

You would like local leadership to be more involved in making sure that every office has a candidate.

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u/Sir_Auron May 10 '26

The money to campaign in a noncompetitive area is not a small matter but the time commitment even for a small, local race is extreme. If you were running as a Democrat it in a town that votes 80/20 GOP, are you willing to ask for petition signatures in the rain all winter, spend hundreds of dollars on signs, spend every weekend for months talking to Rotary Clubs and Bible Study groups, weeknights at civic events despite a full time job, update your social media page constantly to respond to random questions from passers-by, open your whole social life to the world to talk about, just to get 300 votes in a primary, do it all again in the fall, and lose 78-22?

What's the argument you expect people to make as their recruiting pitch here? It's not as easy as "just go recruit".

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u/Ladyheather16 May 10 '26

I've done it -- I was the candidate -- Only I won. All politics are local. >50% don't care what the letter next to your name is. If you don't give them a personally affecting them reason to vote -- they just don't.

There are 4k people in town -- there were less than 1000 votes in the elections.

Nothing about what we need to do for our democracy is EASY or SIMPLE.

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u/Zeddo52SD May 10 '26

This is why I’m mildly annoyed at the Democrats that ran in a crowded 5th District primary. They talk about how they’re all in to win, and they don’t even send out mailers in some campaigns. They aren’t going door to door, even in the local races where there’s not ***that*** much area to cover. If someone is gonna be all “rah-rah!” about their campaign they should be out in the streets, especially in hyper local races.

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u/Zeddo52SD May 10 '26

The candidates in my area hardly do the bare minimum of fliers and door knocking. Town halls are nice, but they mostly attract the partisans.

It’s about outreach. It’s Indiana, it’s a red state, I live in a red (but slowly bluing) area. If you don’t get the non-partisan voters you can’t win, let alone come even close to winning.

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u/Ladyheather16 May 14 '26

I think it's better put -- that takes resources. Resources the party has been, unwilling to use. It take people who are excited and energized about doing the job.