3 groups offer competing visions for Democrats. Up next: New Dems

A recent article in Semafor headlines that New Dems, like the Abundance people, are pushing “to lead their party’s revamp.”

Unlike Klein and Thompson, New Dems are elected officials, and they have a much better grasp on how political power is built, how policy priorities become law and how laws are executed down the line.  When asked by Roll Call how they saw a path back to the majority, New Dems chair Brad Schneider said, “218 is the short answer.”  Schneider also says New Dems are “majority makers.” They are on the upswing, having added 26 members since the November 2024 elections.

According to their website, “the New Democrat Coalition [aka New Dems] (founded 1997) is made up of 115 House Democrats who work across the aisle and across the Capitol to advance innovative, inclusive, and forward-looking policies.”

They call themselves “center left.” Their membership includes a mix of moderate Democrats like CA’s Pete Aguilar and MI’s Haley Stevens, and more progressive Democrats like Joaquin Castro (TX) and Chris Deluzio (PA).   There are several Reps, like Sarah McBride (DE) and Nikema Williams (GA), who are members of both New Dems and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC).

Who do New Dems appeal to, and what’s good about them?

Like Abundance, New Dems are staking out a center lane.  To Semafor, Schneider said “Our message is about moving the country forward…and doing it in a way that isn’t promising castles and clouds like Bernie Sanders likes to do.” 

They focus on three key issue areas with broad appeal:  Economic Growth and Opportunity, Healthy and Safe Communities, and Strong National Security and Defense.  On Sept. 11, ahead of other groups, they released their policy agenda after months of task forces and hitting the road. It includes 5 areas: immigration and border security, taxes, energy, innovation, and affordable housing.

For example, their tax plan involves: "one, lowering costs for middle-class families and hardworking Americans; two, expanding economic opportunity and growing American jobs and businesses; and three, promoting fiscal responsibility and long-term economic security. But this is more than just ideas – the framework includes a policy roadmap capable of amassing support on both sides of the aisle and outlines next steps for implementation." They criticize Trump's "giveaway to billionaires," but they don't mention taxing the rich.

New Dems talk about “bridging the partisan divide with a solutions-oriented approach to politics.”   I’m sure their approach seems the most sensible to quite a few Democrats and independents out there.  They seem especially strong in purple areas where progressive Democrats can have difficulty competing, such as Deluzio’s district in western PA. 

They communicate effectively and have a strong social media presence.

New Dems could be the center of efforts to find common ground between progressive and moderate Democrats, which is a key to regaining power. 

They’ve expressed some support for important Democratic structural reforms. For example, they say that seniority should be a factor, but not determinative, for committee chairmanships.  An alliance with progressives on things like this could be extremely helpful in moving the party in the right direction.

What’s wrong with New Dems?

New Dems are doing a lot of things right.  In an ideal world, they could be the Democratic Party, progressives could be the left party, and they could serve together in a coalition government that represents the best of both worlds.  Unfortunately, we live in America, where the multi-party system is still a distant dream, and “zero sum” is the name of the game.

So what’s wrong with New Dems is that they are far more “center” than “left.”  Now that left politics are more popular, giving New Dems the keys would mean kissing key Democratic constituencies, like young people, goodbye.  And that could mean more time in the wilderness, not to mention the possible complete annihilation of our democracy.  So that leads us to our next and last group.