Nevada progressives are furious with establishment Democrats in the state after they voted in favor of a House resolution to “condemn the horrors of socialism,” setting up a showdown between the party’s far-left flank and its more centrist officials.
The Las Vegas chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America hit out against the state’s Democratic Party, decrying officials for not condemning Nevada’s House members after all four lawmakers voted to denounce “the horrors of socialism” in countries such as Cuba and North Korea. The LVDSA cited the state party’s silence, along with a handful of other grievances, as evidence that the Democratic Party has become a “dead end.”
HOUSE PASSES RESOLUTION CONDEMNING ‘HORRORS OF SOCIALISM’
“It is a ‘party’ in name only; truly, it is simply a tangled web of dark money and mega-donors, cynical consultants, and lapdog politicians,” LVDSA officials wrote in a statement. “The establishment is Lucy with the football: no matter how effectively socialists organize for power, the establishment will simply pull the football away, using dirtier and dirtier tricks. Enough falling for the tricks and even the most dedicated socialist can’t help but give up and play the ugly game.”
The statement comes after the House resolution received bipartisan support in the House, passing in a 328-86 vote with 109 Democrats joining all Republicans in advancing the measure. All four House members from Nevada — Democratic Reps. Mark Amodei, Steven Horsford, Susie Lee, and Dina Titus — voted in favor of the resolution.
The Las Vegas Democratic socialists lamented the vote and specifically criticized the Nevada Democratic Party for failing to condemn the lawmakers’ votes. In response, the LVDSA recused itself from endorsing any candidate in the upcoming election for a new Nevada State Democratic Party chair — noting the slate of progressive candidates has failed to set themselves apart from traditional Democrats.
“Now re-election approaches. The former Progressive Slate’s stances do not differ significantly or materially from their opponents’, nor do their general tactics,” the group wrote. “We cannot offer this slate our organizational support, either on paper or through organized action, despite the fact that some of the slate members continue to be DSA members.”
The refusal to back a candidate marks the latest in a feud between progressives and centrist Democrats in Nevada since the far-left flank took over the state party over two years ago.
Members of the LVDSA made a clean sweep, securing all the Nevada Democratic Party leadership positions in 2021, marking a significant win for progressives and setting the stage for a transformation of the state Democratic Party — a transformation that progressives say never happened.
Instead, the socialists who were elected began facing accusations that they were abandoning their progressive principles amid reelection challenges.
“As the term went on, we saw the ostensibly-progressive coalition move more and more to the center, making administrative and political choices that were more in line with the corporatists that we pledged to beat than the grassroots organizers who pushed the initial victory,” the LVDSA wrote. “As socialists, we do not think the rightward shift is a moral failing of leadership; we have seen the same thing happen over and over when socialists enter Democratic Party politics. The corrupt, corporate-fueled machine (and its aide-de-camp, the mainstream media) is a moderating force, even for the proudest leftists.”
The group specifically homed in on Nevada Democratic Party Chairwoman Judith Whitmer, who won the seat in 2021 after running in affiliation with the NVDSA. Critics accused her of failing to build a grassroots movement in the state, a criticism that was reportedly shared by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who had a heavy hand in electing progressives to the state’s Democratic Party.
“The senator is pretty disappointed in Judith’s chairmanship, specifically around her failure to build a strong grassroots movement in the state,” a source told Politico. “A lot of us feel sad about what could have been. It was a big opportunity for Bernie-aligned folks in the state to prove some of the folks in the establishment wrong. And that hasn’t happened.”
Whitmer defended her tenure as party chairwoman, noting Sanders has never approached her with concerns on her leadership. Additionally, Whitmer argued that she has spent the last two years focused on making changes that are politically realistic — something that far-left progressives have not been willing to do, she said.
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“They really did not want to do electoral politics,” she told the outlet. “They wanted to work outside of the current electoral system. As the state party chair, I can’t do that. I can’t work outside of the system itself. I represent the Democratic Party. I don’t represent the [Democratic Socialists of America.]”
Whitmer is up for reelection on March 4, when the state central committee will choose its next chair. She will face Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, who has been endorsed by a slew of the state’s Democratic senators, House members, and other state officials.
