Third Way President Jonathan Cowan said moderate Democrats are preparing for an internal fight as socialist candidates gain influence in competitive states and potentially position themselves for a presidential bid.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Centrist Democrats are organizing a multimillion-dollar effort to counter the party’s socialist wing amid growing concern that a far-left candidate could capture the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028 and struggle in the general election.
Jonathan Cowan, president of the moderate Democratic group Third Way, said the organization plans to spend $15 million between now and 2028 challenging democratic socialism and its expanding influence within the party, according to a New York Times report.
“We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” Cowan said.
The concern among moderates intensified after Dr. El-Sayed narrowly won a Democratic nomination in one of the nation’s prominent swing states. Although his victory was not as decisive as some pre-election polling had suggested, centrists viewed the result as evidence that socialist candidates were gaining ground beyond deeply liberal urban districts.
An archived version of the Times article described the implications for the party’s center:
“We are preparing for the next war that is coming,” said Jonathan Cowan, the president of Third Way, a leading centrist Democratic group, revealing to The New York Times a new $15 million effort between now and 2028 to discredit democratic socialism.
“Dr. El-Sayed’s win was not the blowout that some pre-election polls had predicted. But his narrow nomination in one of the country’s signature swing states still represented a critical moment for the party’s middle, which had previously sought to cast the far left’s successes as contained within the country’s most urban and liberal corridors.”
“Their fear: Dr. El-Sayed was paving a path for a progressive to seize the party’s presidential nomination in 2028 — and then go on to lose the general election.”
Cowan said socialist victories in electorally competitive areas should alarm Democrats who want to preserve the party’s ability to win national elections.
“It is deeply troubling to see radical, far-left candidates winning in places that are potentially presidential swing states,” Cowan said.
The internal struggle has also drawn warnings from Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has criticized Democrats for accommodating socialist and communist figures. Recent polling and political discussion surrounding the ideological divide were highlighted in an online post.
Fetterman recently warned Democrats against elevating figures such as socialist streamer Hasan Piker because of their online audiences.
“I would never try to elevate… a communist just because [Piker] has followers on some, on Twitch, whatever that is. But overall, if you identify with a communist who praises Mao and Cuba and for these places, that should be foreign to any Democrat. Without a doubt, that’s having an impact,” Fetterman told Fox News Digital.
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville has expressed similar opposition to Piker becoming influential within the party.
“I am not going to be in the same party with Hasan Piker, I can tell you that right now. If he becomes a force in the Democratic Party, I’m out of here,” Carville said in remarks circulated online.
Piker, who has been described as a Marxist, recently delivered a speech while wearing a suit styled after clothing associated with Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. During the address, he denounced moderate Democrats and called for their removal from the party’s coalition.
“No more to the Democrats who compromise, who conciliate, and who betray us. No more to the fascist reactionaries, but no more to the Democrats who will collaborate and cooperate with the fascists, who will fund ICE, who will fund Israel, who will help poison the planet, who will stiff workers and help bosses. We don’t need those Democrats anymore,” Piker said in a video of the speech.
The escalating rhetoric reflects a widening conflict over whether Democrats should move toward democratic socialism or maintain a more centrist platform designed to compete in swing states. Moderate leaders are increasingly treating the dispute not as a temporary disagreement but as a defining battle over the party’s direction and its prospects in the 2028 presidential election.
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