In June, a slew of progressive Democrats won primaries in some cases upending incumbents with long careers in Washington. Following in the footsteps Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York City in 2025, Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier bested their opponents and in the case of Lander and a Chevalier, defeated sitting House members.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, 29-year-old Merat Kiros beat 30-year House incumbent Dianne DeGette in their Democratic primary. So what is the through line here? Israel. All have criticized the war in Gaza and pledged not to take money from AIPAC or vote for more military aid for Israel.
These current political events encapsulate a party enmeshed in inner turmoil. While party leaders and the consultant class want to ignore it, ordinary voters, especially Democrats, have been turning against Israel over its war in Gaza, the annexation and settler violence in the West Bank and its expansionist policies in Lebanon and Syria. This, many say, cost them the presidency in 2024.
On the other hand, while the progressive wing, many of whom are carrying the mantle of the Democratic Socialists of America, are gaining traction, the MAGA movement is struggling to reconcile President Trump’s war and the fraught economy at home. Many on the Right, too, are blaming the Israeli government’s zeal for conflict and its grip on Trump’s foreign policy and say this is far from “America First.”
To keep these two factions from working together, Trump and the Republicans have exhumed the Cold War era “Red Scare” against the upstart progressives. It’s an age old wedge — the Commies are coming! Will it work?
Here to talk about it this week are Annelle Sheline, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute, who resigned the State Department in 2024 in protest of the Biden Administration’s Gaza policy. Also joining us is Erik Sperling, Executive Director of Just Foreign Policy and former staffer to Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna and John Conyers.
Hellbound and Down 