The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is "building power" and likely will be "dominating presidential elections over the next 15 years" left-wing Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told the New York Times, even as moderates and liberals feud over the party's direction.
Former Illinois lawmaker and former leader of the House Democrats’ campaign arm Cheri Bustos told the outlet that there always seems to be a "reckoning" when a party swings too far right or too far left.
"In 2018, our party seemed to react to Donald Trump winning in 2016, and the reaction was to go further and further left," Bustos, a moderate, said. "When politics swings far to the left or far to the right, there always seems to be a reckoning."
Progressive Democrats cited their recent victory in Chicago, where Brandon Johnson, a progressive who was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT., defeated his moderate opponent, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, in the city's mayoral race.
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Rep. Khanna told the Times that progressives would likely dominate elections in a post-Biden political era.
"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 outlet reported that progressives still remain on the "defensive."
During an interview with socialist magazine Jacobin, far-left Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. D-N.Y., suggested President Biden might be forgetting "who it was that put him over the top."
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"I think it is extremely risky and very perilous should the Biden administration forget who it was that put him over the top. When you look at the places — not just abstract levels of turnout, not just where numbers came from, but these swing places that gave Joe Biden the edge on an [Electoral College] victory — it was young people that that won him this election, communities of color, high turnout areas. This lurch to the right at a time when the Right is scrambling and lost in the desert on how to even win an election after these stunning losses — I think it’s a profound miscalculation. And it is quite dangerous," she said in response to a question about Biden's "move to the right."
Progressives also won a major Wisconsin Supreme Court election earlier this month.
Democratic-backed Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz won the crucial seat, defeating Republican-backed former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly.
The court will now be controlled 4-3 by left-leaning justices for at least the next two years.
The Times also reported that some analysts have warned against reading too far into these progressive victories.
"The whole name of the game is creating a majority, and the majority makers are the moderates," Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, told the outlet.
He said progressives "can win occasionally. But for the most part, they lose because what they’re selling isn’t what Dems want to be buying."
Fox News Digital's Timothy Nerozzi contributed to this report.
