Democrats are on the verge of reversing their political fortunes.
asserted
Democrats → reverse → fortunes
The party is heading into the midterm elections Tuesday under the kind of conditions campaign consultants dream of, after two years wielding hardly more power than a strongly worded letter.
asserted
consultants → head → letter
Donald Trump has spent the erratic waning years of his presidency leading his party into a political wilderness by waging a deeply unpopular war on Iran and driving the cost of living ever higher.
asserted
Trump → spend → living
Republicans who enjoy a governing trifecta have tried to distance themselves from the party’s decision-making and its leader, a once-animating force who has turned himself into a liability.
asserted
who → enjoy → liability
Poll after poll says the same: Democrats are poised to take control of one or both houses of Congress — and spend the next two years thwarting Trump’s agenda.
asserted
Democrats → say → agenda
But after a primary season dominated by an ascendant left wing and a broader rejection of centrist politics, the question isn’t just whether Democrats win on Tuesday.
asserted
Democrats → dominate → Tuesday
It’s what kind of Democratic Party emerges on Wednesday morning.
asserted
kind → ’ → morning
“I really like the socialism aspects,” said Gibrel Said, a supporter of Abdul El-Sayed at his closing rally in Detroit Monday night.
asserted
Said → like → Detroit
In the marquee contest serving as a referendum on the Democratic Party’s future, the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee espouses progressive politics and has often been associated with the the left’s agenda-setting socialists, though he doesn’t identify as one.
asserted
he → serve → one
His race has been rocked by the kind of left-versus-right identity crisis that presents a perennial challenge for Democrats.
asserted
that → rock → Democrats
“One, Medicare for All; two, how do we fund things that help us as constituents,” Said told The Intercept, ticking off things he appreciates about the candidate.
asserted
he → fund → candidate
Said, who lives in the Arab enclave of Dearborn, Michigan, especially praised El-Sayed’s willingness to buck party leadership and speak out on U.S.–Israel policy.
asserted
who → live → policy
“Instead of tiptoeing around the subject, he very adamantly says, hey there’s a genocide happening here, we shouldn’t send our money.”
asserted
we → tiptoe → money
Cycle after cycle, in state after state, an insurgent band of Democrats critical of the political establishment’s ties to corporate interests and its unflinching commitment to Israel has had to overcome the barriers erected by its own party’s centrist leadership.
asserted
band → have → leadership
Both sides present themselves as the true representatives of working people: the centrists by arguing that more transformative ideas will scare off lower-information voters, the left by saying they represent the masses.
asserted
they → present → masses
How much of this trickles down to actual voters?
asserted
much → trickle → voters
On Monday, The Intercept followed canvassers and spoke to voters in Michigan, Maine, and Texas, asking about which issues had permeated and taking the temperature of voter enthusiasm.
asserted
issues → follow → enthusiasm
Some rolled their eyes at the spats that have dominated the headlines, dismissing the idea that eleventh-hour backstabbing would make a difference.
asserted
backstabbing → roll → difference
Others regurgitated right-wing misinformation.
asserted
Others → regurgitate → misinformation
Many complained of too many campaign mailers.
asserted
Many → complain → mailers
“They’re wicked mean,” said Sharon McDonnell, a supporter of Troy Jackson, the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine.
asserted
McDonnell → ’re → Maine
Speaking to The Intercept in the town of Yarmouth, she described one mailer that included a photo of Jackson chomping a cigar and describing him as “evil.”
asserted
that → speak → him
“It’s just nasty.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
In Maine, the party’s left flank seized power in the nominating process for the Democratic Senate candidate — then fought to hang onto it after onetime rising star Graham Platner flamed out after a sexual assault allegation (which he denies).
asserted
he → seize → which
With Jackson, a former state Senate leader, Maine now offers progressives one of two opportunities to test their message at the Senate level, where a candidate has to secure appeal statewide, not just in deep-blue House districts.
asserted
candidate → offer → districts
The other is Michigan, where the intraparty battle is still raging.
asserted
battle → rag → ?
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., demolished her past attempts at fence-mending when she endorsed Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Sunday and abandoned El-Sayed, who beat Stevens in a Michigan primary that saw $30 million in outside spending from the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
asserted
that → demolish → Committee
The dustup has had Democrats biting their nails and moderate party leaders making the cable news circuit to demand party discipline — this time, to scold a centrist
asserted
leaders → bite → centrist
The party leads in the polls for 218 of the 435 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives, but they need to perform well in seven key states — Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, and Texas, in addition to Maine and Michigan — if they want to win the Senate.
asserted
they → lead → Senate
“I think she’s counterintuitively, perhaps, given people a reason to rally some more,” said Kathleen Britton, an El-Sayed supporter at the Detroit rally on Monday, of Stevens.
asserted
Britton → think → Stevens
“I really don’t think it’s gonna help Mike Rogers.”
asserted
it → think → Rogers
Earlier that day, in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Detroit, a prominent Black supporter of El-Sayed preparing to knock on voters’ doors described Stevens’s endorsement as an “ego-driven statement.”
asserted
supporter → prepare → statement
Mike Bland, the executive director of the Black Men Vote PAC, highlighted that Stevens made her public endorsement of Rogers in a Black church in Detroit.
asserted
Stevens → highlight → Detroit
He doubted that Stevens, whose criticism of El-Sayed centers primarily on his skepticism of the U.S. relationship with the state of Israel, would be able to pull Black voters to Rogers, a conservative former House representative whose campaign has repeatedly peddled anti-Muslim tropes against El-Sayed.
asserted
campaign → doubt → Sayed
“How can I say this without cursing?
asserted
I → say → this
She used a Black church as a prop, and we have seen that time and time again,” Bland said.
asserted
Bland → use → that
Over the past month, El-Sayed has rallied with Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, the two most prominent Black politicians in America — and hardly radicals estranged from the establishment power center.
asserted
Sayed → rally → center
At the same time that Stevens was making her endorsement of Rogers public, El-Sayed was attending a get-out-the-vote event at another church in Detroit.
asserted
Sayed → make → Detroit
The two primary foes were supposed to appear together that day with Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C.
One of the Democrats’ most coveted Senate pickups didn’t present much of an opportunity for the left in the primary, but it has still been characterized by intraparty animosity.
asserted
it → suppose → animosity
In Texas, where both Democratic Senate primary contenders espoused relatively moderate politics, outgoing Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has declined to campaign with state Rep. James Talarico, though she endorsed him after he beat her in the state’s March Democratic primary.
asserted
he → espouse → primary
…and 40 more, not listed.
The Aporia
