Progressives feel vindication after major primaries
by Hanna Trudo and Morgan Chalfant - 05/18/22 4:22 PM ET
Progressives had perhaps their best night of the primary season on Tuesday.
In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman easily emerged victorious in the Democratic Senate primary and state Rep. Summer Lee is on track to narrowly win her contest in the state’s 12th Congressional District, both outcompeting moderate Democrats.
Maybe most glaringly, some 2,500 miles away from the Keystone State, incumbent Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), a seven-term Blue Dog Coalition member who was endorsed by President Biden, is on the verge of losing his battle against liberal challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner.
The left see the contests as encouraging signs that they’re gaining steam when and where it counts, particularly after several high-profile losses in 2018 and 2020 blurred their prospects for success.
“Kurt Schrader became the national poster boy for learning the hard way,” said Joseph Geevarghese, who leads Our Revolution, a grassroots organization that formed around Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) first presidential campaign. “Progressives won some big races despite millions of dollars from corporate billionaires pouring into Democratic primaries.”
Schrader’s bid was not supposed to be particularly tricky. He earned Biden’s support more as a sign of loyalty than necessity. He then got congressional and party committee leadership on board, took in large sums of money and was seen as the establishment wing’s safest bet to stave off a relatively unknown liberal rival out West.
When that didn’t happen, progressives were overjoyed. So much so that by Wednesday afternoon, as the results were still being counted in Clackamas County, one prominent movement leader used the word “vindicated” to describe the sentiment shared among activists and operatives who worked to oust Schrader from his seat.
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https://thehill.com/news/state-watch/3493293-progressives-feel-vindication-after-major-primary-wins/
