Bernie Sanders is destroying Chuck Schumer in the Democratic Party’s Civil War ahead of the midterms |
Bernie Sanders is destroying Chuck Schumer in the Democratic Party’s Civil War ahead of the midterms
Maine just sent a blunt message to the Democratic Party’s national leaders.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills was forced to abandon her U.S. Senate campaign on Thursday, unable to generate sufficient fundraising or enthusiasm to compete against Graham Platner, an oyster farmer who has never served in elected office. The announcement marked a stinging defeat for Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who recruited Mills to lead the party’s decades-long quest to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
The swift defenestration of a two-term governor by a political neophyte highlighted a stark reality that has begun to take hold at a pivotal moment — Democratic voters are rejecting their party’s establishment and embracing new risks, even as their confidence grows that a blue wave is coming in November’s midterm elections.
Sometimes Democrats seem almost as angry at their own party’s aging and entrenched leadership as they are at President Donald Trump.
“Rank-and-file Democrats don’t want the Democratic Party as we know it,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the Democratic resistance group Indivisible. “Rank-and-file Democrats want fighters.”
Local Indivisible chapters, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who’s an independent but caucuses with Democrats, and other leaders from the party’s progressive wing had already lined up behind Platner, who is now almost certain to be the Democratic nominee in one of the party’s best Senate pickup opportunities in the nation.
Platner on Friday insisted he........