What’s With The Progressives?

Aug 25, 2026

THIS WEEK: What’s with the Progressives?

Cry Establishment Dems.

The Progressives are coming for you.

Aisha Wahab in California. Angie Nixon in Florida. Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota.

These feisty candidates aren’t just winning primaries without the support of the Dems’ biggest donors—but despite massive, very expensive efforts to defeat them.

The “what” is getting plenty of attention. The “how” and “why” deserve more.

Grassroots organizing is part of the story. So is a rapidly developing progressive social-media ecosystem. And then there are the voters themselves. Who is turning out for these candidates, and why?

Want to cover this in your neck of the woods? We have some tips.

Forget the polls

Or at least be wary of them. A poll is only as good as a pollster’s ability to understand what to correct for. And when political shifts happen, pollsters tend to become less reliable — as they always seem to be correcting for whatever the last political shift was. That’s why you are seeing a disconnect between what polls are predicting and what has been happening in Dem primaries.

Shoe-leather it

Old-fashion shoe-leather reporting is your new best-friend. Just because polls don’t understand what’s going on, doesn’t mean you have to be in the dark, too. Get out and ask would-be-voters what they are thinking, how they are feeling, where their heads are at, and what is top of mind when they are evaluating the candidates under consideration.

Remember the many faces of Trump

A lot of political commentators, reporters, and strategists get confused about party allegiance, thinking that everyone is as dead-set on their affiliations as the most politically engaged. But that’s not true. A willingness to switch from Bernie to Trump, Trump to Biden, and now MAGA to Social Democrat is an important phenomenon that deserves some ink and should be in the back of your mind when you are reporting on voters’ behavior.

Socialize

Progressives Dems are the new social media goats. They are finding new, catchy ways to connect with voters, craft narratives, and respond to real concerns by talking to voters online. Report on how they are doing this and what their new social media acumen means for their power base.

Dump the Tea Party comparison

There has been some recent comparisons between this progressive wave and the massive Tea Party movement that took hold during the Obama era. Don’t be fooled. That movement caught fire among disillusioned Americans. But it was fueled by big-ticket donors who paid for a lot of the organizing materials, training, and public narrative crafting. This progressive wave isn’t being bankrolled by big Dem donors. It’s actually being opposed by them. If you want to compare the two movements, report on that.