Editorial: Is centrism in the Democratic Party dead? Let's hope not.

Chicago Tribune

4 hours ago

An interesting question has emerged after socialist Zohran Mamdani's primary triumph in the race for New York City mayor.
Is the primary electorate simply unreceptive to centrist points of view? In that case, Democrats nationally are likely to spend a good long while in the political wilderness.
Or, is this high-profile loss, and others of recent vintage, for the middle lane of the Democratic Party due more to poor centrist standard-bearers (and enigmatic extremists) rather than the actual political positions themselves?
There are many, of course, who argue Chicago recently went through its own version of what New York City just experienced. But NYC, given its size and prominence, is generating political shockwaves far exceeding the reaction when Brandon Johnson pulled off his own surprise win in 2023.
Establishment Democrats, and NYC's financial elite, rallied around Andrew Cuomo, a polarizing figure who had the benefit of widespread name recognition but also the massive liability of having been forced out of office as New York governor in 2021 because of sexual harassment allegations (which he continues to deny). Cuomo saw this moment, with an incumbent New York mayor crippled by scandal, as his opportunity to resurrect his career, positioning himself as the only seasoned, competent politician in the race able to steer the Big Apple back to normalcy.
Trouble was, too many New York City Democrats — particularly young voters who chafe at the city's near-impossible cost of living — weren't interested in preserving the status quo and recoiled at voting for such a scandal-tarred candidate. They wanted change, and the 33-year-old Mamdani, a state assemblyman with little to no managerial experience, promised to address their most pressing concerns. Rent. Food costs. Transit.
And perhaps more importantly, he campaigned with verve and creativity, striking even plenty of folks who thought his ideas were impractical as a better leader than the 67-year-old Cuomo, who relied on attack ads funded by the likes of billionaire and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Former Cuomo aide (and now critic) Lis Smith spoke for many observers when she diagnosed Mamdani's win this way: 'If you don't want to lose to a socialist, don't run a fatally flawed candidate like Andrew Cuomo.'
We could not have put that better ourselves.
But does the NYC establishment's failure to back the right horse mean that the centrist platform on which Cuomo ran is a loser with Democratic voters, too? It's tempting to conclude as such, and far-left voices are trying to sell that story.
We think what's happening within the Democratic tent is more nuanced. For example, we've seen politicians on the far left (including Mamdani) seize on the so-called abundance agenda popularized by podcaster Ezra Klein in making their appeals to voters. Klein critiques blue cities and states that have made building projects Democratic politicians enthusiastically support (think high-speed rail and affordable housing) exorbitantly costly and difficult to complete, due to red tape and environmental bells and whistles.
There are vast differences in approach to pursuing the abundance agenda. Mamdani and others on the far left place more emphasis on governmental involvement while center-right and center-left voices argue that the private sector should be freed to build more. But the critique itself is a centrist one, and leftists wouldn't be seeking to offer their own version if they didn't tacitly agree with Klein's criticisms.
All of this is to say that centrism and pragmatic politics are no means dead in the Democratic Party. What is kaput — or should be — is running tarnished political brands from yesteryear to try to stop younger, fresher, more radical candidates from succeeding.
President Donald Trump's return to office notwithstanding, voters yearn for new blood as much as they desire new ideas. They want to see politicians with the energy and creativity to reframe policies and positions that establishment figures have reduced to snooze-worthy buzzwords and make them relevant to a highly restive electorate. Election after election has demonstrated that Americans, both in blue cities and red towns and villages, are unhappy with how things are going, nationally and often locally too.
Voters also want to see candidates willing to challenge their own party's orthodoxies. Authenticity — a quality Mamdani seemed to have in abundance — is not optional in today's politics.
Yes, we'll allow that it's more difficult to come off as exciting when you're espousing common-sense policy positions and admitting there are limits to what government should or can do to improve people's lives. But it's not impossible. A certain former Chicagoan named Barack Obama demonstrated that it can be done.
Following the beating Democrats took at the polls last November, the party has barely started to chart a way forward to be more competitive at the national level. Voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin are highly unlikely to find full-throated, Mamdani-style socialism to be a viable alternative to ascendant Trumpism.
Centrists need to get in the game. And that means offering up fresh faces willing to take chances.