Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is “building power” to dominate elections for the next 15 years.
Khanna sees the United States political scene slipping not just in the Democrats’ favor, but specifically in favor of the party’s progressive wing. Speaking with the New York Times, Khanna gave an optimistic estimate that progressives would dominate national elections for the next 15 years based on current momentum.
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“Right now, the progressives are sort of building power — it is like a silent build that is just going to explode in a post-Biden world,” Khanna said. “I just can’t conceive of a situation where progressives aren’t dominating presidential elections over the next 15 years after Biden.”
The progressives within the Democratic Party have proven decisive in recent elections on both the local and national levels. Progressive activists are credited with several upset victories in recent years, particularly regarding abortion. Among their most recent triumphs were the Chicago mayoral election and the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
In Congress, progressives now form one of the largest ideological blocks, as the House’s Congressional Progressive Caucus now has 102 members. It added 16 members in the last election cycle.
“I couldn’t feel more proud or feel more vindicated that the type of politics we argued for are where more Americans are at,” Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, told the New York Times. His organization is credited with being largely responsible for the victories in Chicago and Wisconsin.
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Though progressives currently make up about 12% of the Democratic Party, they have outsize influence due to their energetic activism and fundraising. Their share of the party is likely to grow given that its demographic is young.
Progressives such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appear to be aware of their growing influence as well. In an interview with the socialist magazine Jacobin, Cortez warned President Joe Biden against shifting to become more moderate. She said he should remember that it was progressives that “put him over the top.”
