LIZ PEEK: Democrats face a socialist reckoning they are too scared to stop
Democrats have a tiger by the tail.
Democratic Socialists are bringing money and energy to their party, but also a growing crop of anti-American, anti-capitalist and often antisemitic candidates who scorn our country’s traditions and values. These challengers may ride today’s wave of anti-Trump sentiment, concern about AI and anger about high prices, and win in solidly Democrat areas, like Manhattan, but long term they will become an embarrassment. AOC and her Democratic Socialist colleagues are not going to breach the Oval Office anytime soon.
Establishment Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer know this but are scared to death of taking on the likes of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for fear of being primaried by leftist candidates and ran out of office. Consequently, they have left the door open and unguarded, welcoming the upstarts. Shame on them.
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Democrats believe they have an excellent chance to take back control of Congress in the fall midterm elections. The war in Iran is not popular, gasoline prices are hovering at $4 per gallon, and the president’s approval ratings have declined. The stage is set for a Democrat win.
But, as the far left invades their party, incumbent Democrat legislators are being pushed aside by increasingly bizarre and offensive candidates like Darializa Avila Chevalier, who in recent years denounced former President Joe Biden as a "rapist" and "war criminal" and on social media proclaimed the U.S. a "f---ing disgrace." Chevalier, who for good measure also posted "f--- Kamala Harris" and has attacked leftists Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has a shot at ousting longtime Democrat stalwart Adriano Espaillat who represents New York’s 13th Congressional district.
Chevalier has a deplorable history of racist remarks, is in favor of closing all prisons, legalizing all drugs and ending U.S. military support for Israel.
No one would be taking this person seriously but for her endorsement by Zohran Mamdani. New York’s Democratic Socialist mayor shocked his party’s establishment by giving his support to Chevalier, thus undermining a five-term congressman who is head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The seat is safe, rated "Solid D" by the Cook report, but a win by Chevalier would further boost Mamdani’s power and lessen moderate Democrats’ tenuous control of the party.
Chevalier is not the only far-left candidate making headlines. As the midterm looms, Democrats eager to take control of the Senate are pinning hopes on the likes of Graham Platner to defeat Republican Susan Collins in Maine, Abdul El-Sayed to fill an open seat in Michigan, and James Talarico, who is running against Texas AG Ken Paxton for Republican John Cornyn’s seat in the Lone Star state.
Platner and Talarico have had to scrub embarrassing social media histories in frantic efforts to reinvent themselves. In this internet era, your past is thankfully hard to erase, and rightly so. Disavowing something you said five years ago just because it now complicates your campaign isn’t persuasive.
Platner has not only had to pretend he no longer believes vulgar posts from a now-deleted Reddit account about his appetite for masturbation, that make light of sexual assaults and other sexual topics, but has also tried to explain away a Nazi-themed tattoo on his chest. Most recently, it has come to light that his wife alerted his campaign early on about sexually explicit texts Platner sent to several women that she had discovered on the oyster farmer’s phone. He also has an account on a private messaging app called Kik that some claim is often used for sexual hook-ups.
Like Platner, Texas state Representative James Talarico is feverishly reinventing himself. In 2022, Talarico ran what he then described as a "non-meat" campaign, telling an audience concerned with animal welfare that climate change considerations were driving him to reduce his consumption of meat. Now, running to represent a major cattle-ranching state, and after being derided as "Tofu Talarico" by opponent Ken Paxton, the candidate declares himself a red-blooded steak lover.
Talarico is also battling early comments that "God is non-binary," and that there are six sexes, just the kinds of goofy nonsense that GOP opponents can capitalize on. Moreover, he has embraced the canard that white people are essentially racist, which is unlikely to play well in the Lone Star state.
In Michigan, one of the front-runners in the Democratic primary to fill Gary Peter’s seat is progressive Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left proponent of Medicare-for-all who wants to abolish ICE and who made headlines recently by recounting a story showcasing what critics say are serious anger management issues. El-Sayed admitted to smashing a fifth of vodka on the floor of a liquor store in Detroit because the proprietor commented on the length of his beard, something with religious connotations among his fellow Muslims.
Establishment Democrats must be horrified at the turn their party is taking. Adding to their woes, Jill Biden is hitting the airwaves trying to drum up interest in her new book. The former first lady is doing interviews about her White House years, reminding the country of the essential lie of the Biden era, perpetuated by her and by Democrat officials, that Joe Biden was fit to serve another four years.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee is at war with itself, wrangling over, among other things, an incomplete and sloppy "autopsy" about how they lost in 2024. They don’t need an autopsy, they just need to listen to the few sane voices in their party which have decried Democrats’ support of biological men competing in women’s sports, defunding the police, open borders and other unpopular issues.
In addition, at some point, they will have to freeze out the radical extremists who are hijacking their party and actively working against the best interests of the United States. The voters will not stand for it.