US Midterms: Democrats face leftward surge

Listen to us in November when we vote the bombs out! In 2009, a political force on the far right erupted in American politics. It came as a backlash to Barack Obama's presidency, and the Tea Party movement energized Republicans to retake the House of Representatives in the midterm election. Now a similar but smaller movement on the left is energizing many Democrats as they seek to retake control of Congress in the middle of Donald Trump's second term. It's taking root mostly on the local and state level, where Zoran Mamdani, a self-described social democrat, handily won New York's mayor's race last year, and whose support helped boost other progressive candidates in their primaries. We will make this city one that working people can love and live in again. High gas prices, inflation, controversial immigration raids, and an incredible flow of corporate money into American elections have propelled the campaigns of progressive candidates. Of the 506 congressional and gubernatorial races on the November ballot, 127, or about 25 percent, won the endorsement of progressive groups. That includes Abdul El-Sayed, who won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Michigan. He calls himself a capitalist, but champions the progressive causes of getting corporate money out of politics. He's also described Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide and supports universal health care. Shouldn't be this hard to pay your taxes and know that that money is going to be spent on you and your kid instead of dropping a bomb on somebody else and their kid. While running in a conservative state, Senate candidate in Texas James Tallarico has also won the backing of progressive groups. The only truth is we are a threat. We're a threat to their corrupt system. This is the struggle that is taking place all across this country. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who embraces the label of democratic socialist, has for decades tried to steer the Democratic Party further to the left. When it comes to universal health care and taxing the very rich, he's been joined in those causes by younger progressives, such as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and three other members of the so-called squad, Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib. While more progressives could soon be joining their ranks, most of them won primaries in states that won't decide which party controls Congress. They could, however, help shift the Democratic agenda further left if Democrats retake control of one or both chambers.