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Posted on 08/07/2026 4:50:15 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Recent primary results could steer presidential hopefuls in the wrong direction for 2028.
The far left is having a moment, and Democratic presidential aspirants are no doubt watching. Progressive activists think they have the key to winning all over the map, buoyed by Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory in Michigan’s Senate primary, Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate and state Rep. Francesca Hong’s polling advantage ahead of the Aug. 11 primary and scattered wins by Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates. But presidential hopefuls be forewarned: Three warning lights are blinking red.
First, even in what looks like a strong Democratic year, these candidates are testing the limits of political gravity. Take Michigan, a swing state that Donald Trump won twice. El-Sayed won his primary by just one point, and he ran up the score with highly educated voters while underperforming with the demographic Democrats need to win in the fall: White voters without college degrees. To get them back, he’ll need to drop the radicalism: Stop hanging out with left-wing provocateur Hasan Piker and ducking questions about Israel’s right to exist, and be clear that he supports the police and no longer seeks to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The clock is ticking — Republicans are already running an ad showing El-Sayed calling himself “dangerous.”
Hong is a DSA member who wants to move toward “a world without prisons” and once said Thanksgiving should be canceled (she’s since walked that back). It won’t take a political mastermind to leverage this rhetoric against her. If she is the nominee and loses in November, a crucial swing state will have a MAGA Republican governor in 2028 who still refuses to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Of course, El-Sayed and Hong could win, because Trump is staggeringly unpopular. But Trump will be on...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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Democrats risk misreading recent progressive primary successes as a signal to shift further left ahead of 2028, but the electoral math and history argue against it.
In this Washington Post opinion piece, Jon Cowan and Matt Bennett of Third Way warn that wins or leads by far-left candidates—such as Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow Michigan Senate primary victory and Francesca Hong’s polling edge in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, plus scattered Democratic Socialists of America-aligned wins—should not guide 2028 presidential hopefuls. They highlight three red flags.
First, even in a favorable Democratic environment, these candidates strain political limits in swing states. El-Sayed prevailed by only one point, overperforming with highly educated voters while lagging among the white non-college voters Democrats need in the fall; he would need to moderate on issues like policing, ICE, and associations with figures like Hasan Piker. Hong, a DSA member with past comments favoring a “world without prisons” and questioning Thanksgiving, presents easy targets for opponents. Trump’s unpopularity might help them in 2026, but he will be gone by 2028, making blanket assumptions about left-wing viability in presidential swing states unrealistic.
Second, a sharp left turn is toxic in presidential general elections. Kamala Harris adopted fringe positions under progressive pressure in 2020, struggled to shed them in 2024, and faced perceptions of being “too liberal” (by larger margins than Trump was seen as “too conservative”). Exit polls showed the electorate as roughly 42% moderate, 35% conservative, and 23% liberal; a Democrat needs at least 60% of moderates to win (Harris took 57%, Clinton 52%, Kerry 54%).
Third, presidential primaries differ from midterm or down-ballot contests. Michigan’s 2028 primary electorate will likely be larger and more focused on electability against potential Republican nominees like JD Vance or Marco Rubio. Democratic primary voters (including a substantial moderate/conservative share) prioritize candidates who can win, fight for working people, and confront Trump Republicans with authenticity—qualities not exclusive to the left wing.
The authors advocate “combative centrism” that challenges the status quo and picks fights with Trump without veering into socialism or extreme positions. They argue the 2024 electorate clearly signaled that Democrats were viewed as too extreme; doubling down would reflect amnesia rather than resistance.
The “left turn” is the mask coming off the rest of the way.
Everyone that the Washington Compost writer knows hates Trump, so that makes him "staggeringly unpopular."
Jed, I told you that ever’body wants to go home to Tennessee. Granny, who do you mean by “everybody”? Granny - me, Elly May, Jethro, like I said, ever’body. Just like the “press”, communists masquerading as journalists.
The Overton Window. Move the center closer to your position through proposing the extreme.
Wait til the Dems find out what the Muslims really have planned. It’s not leftist
It’s hard for some people to look past anecdotal evidence. Truthfully, I’m included in that when I hear Fauci’s name. The guy makes me see red, because of my own personal anecdotal experience.
We’ve managed to fubar holding all three branches but the dems aren’t even smart enough to take advantage of that.
Not a bad way of putting it. When Republicans gain power, they are too timid and traditional (the old “collegiality”) to use it. When Democrats gain power they get punch-drunk and overdo it (like when Obamacare was jammed through).
We don’t go nearly far enough - they go way too far.
Our side has so much confidence that the Democraps will be smart enough to shy away from the socialists. I would not be so sure!
Remember, they already support “transgender for everybody”, abortion, abolish the cops, abolish ICE, etc.
The current crop of dems aren’t Carville/Clinton/Pelosi/Rahm Emanuele level that live and breathe politics and never let a good crisis go to waste. This group is “blanking” retarded.
The Democrats have had the old dominant media on their side for decades. It is why Republicans are “timid”.
The Media used to be owned by Leftists/Progressives.
Now there is diversity in “the media”. Conseratives have a share. Republicans need to learn not to be afraid.
President Trump shows the way.
“White voters without college degrees.“
The Dems specifically left them out of their electoral strategy way back in the 90’s.
Rush Limbaugh pointed this out by reading a NYT editorial out loud on his radio show, calling the NYT “the Democrat paper of record”.
The editorial said Democrats were abandoning labor in favor of the ultra rich, the ultra poor and urban hipsters.
El-Sayed is unpopular among dems despite the primary results. Michigan is an open primary state, which means Republicans likely voted for him because the polls showed he was easier to defeat than Stevens.
CC
“The current crop of dems aren’t Carville/Clinton/Pelosi/Rahm Emanuele level that live and breathe politics and never let a good crisis go to waste. This group is “blanking” retarded.”
—————
So were the Bolsheviks and Nazis…stupidity on the part of your opponents is no guarantee that they’ll lose.
The biggest winner in the Michigan Senate primary was not Abdul El-Sayed, nor was it Republican Mike Rogers. The biggest winner was the background stakeholder who gains the most, the U.S. Intelligence Community.
Mike Rogers previously defended the CIA, FBI and Hillary Clinton State Department from scrutiny in the Benghazi mess that underpinned the entire 2016 election manipulation. {GO DEEP} Mike Rogers was Chair of the SSCI who wrote the fabricated report that covered for Clinton’s Benghazi mess.
Now the IC repays the favor.
Rogers is a shoo-in for a seat on the SSCI as soon as he wins the Michigan Senate Race. Michiganders have too much at home familiarity with the severe slop of Islamism that surrounds them; and while El-Sayed will carry the communist coalition, the daily reality on the ground in Michigan is too close for deflection. This one was well played by the IC.
MICHIGAN – Abdul El-Sayed has won Michigan’s slugfest of a Democratic Senate primary … clinching the nomination in a close race over Rep. Haley Stevens and establishing a Midwest beachhead for a progressive left on the march this midterm cycle.
El-Sayed overcame a nearly $65 million onslaught of outside money and an establishment that had rallied around Stevens. Popular Gov. Gretchen Whitmer endorsed Stevens late last month — a move seen as a last-ditch effort to stop a rising El-Sayed.
El-Sayed, a former public health official, goes on to face former Rep. Mike Rogers, who claimed the Republican nomination without opposition Tuesday. Their race in November is expected to be one of the most competitive in the country, and it could determine which party controls the Senate. (read more)
I don’t see the IC letting this opportunity slip away.
This should be a GOP flip.
You are correct, there is no left turn at all. This is who they are. The mask is off in some races. The MSM is worried because the rats were supposed to be using the Virginia play book. The DSA are not following the script.
Correct.
Democrat self immolation. I’m for it. 😏
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