March 22, 2025 - 7:15pm
Should young progressives leave the Democratic Party behind and start running as independents? According to recent comments by Bernie Sanders, the answer to that question might very well be yes.
In an interview with the New York Times this week, the independent Vermont Senator called on progressives to run “outside” of the Democratic Party in order to “defeat Trumpism” and “transform the political situation in America”. Criticising the influence of wealthy donors and DC consultants on the party, Sanders said the Democrats had failed to address Americans’ economic concerns, even if there had been some success on social issues.
Usually, these sorts of comments are not be taken seriously. Though the Democratic Party has a history of occasionally tolerating independents — Sanders himself is probably the most successful example of this — this has been done grudgingly at best. What’s more, independents only tend to emerge (if at all) when elections are very far away because, by the time November comes around, most realise that they need to stick with the party if they want to have any shot of being elected to Congress.
But are these really normal times? Maybe this sort of talk — and the threat of independents contesting safe Democratic seats — should be taken a bit more seriously in 2025. Issues such as Gaza have already shown the impact independents can have on swing states, particularly as the party’s approval is cratering. In recent weeks the Democrats’ polling has hit record lows, primarily because they cannot seem to coalesce around a message, let alone a leader. On the one hand, there are senators like John Fetterman who advocate aligning with Donald Trump on certain issues; on the other, Resistance types want Democrats to simply fight harder against the President — on every issue. But, beyond this, none of them actually seem to know what to do or what the alternative would be.
The problem is that America’s “progressives” also appear to be out of juice. While it is true that Sanders himself is currently riding high — his own reply to Trump’s recent address to Congress drew far more eyeballs than the “official” Democrat response — there simply isn’t some big progressive movement to draw from. Those heady days of “the 1% vs the 99%” and “Medicare for all” are now firmly in the rear-view mirror, and they aren’t going to return. The once-hopeful Millennials who formed the core of the “Bernie bro” movement are now jaded and have mostly tuned out (or even switched to Trump), and polling shows that younger people are less progressive today than they used to be. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of “the Squad” have gone from being plucky rebels to occupying a very uncomfortable niche inside the Democratic Party: always trying desperately to prove their establishment bona fides, but never quite earning the trust of the party grandees.
No matter what happens, we are not about to get some sort of progressive revolution, or a return to the mid-2010s. But it is entirely possible that the ongoing crisis inside the Democrats could lead to a relative strengthening of AOC, Bernie, and justice Democrats. If that happens, it won’t be because of their progressive credentials, their ideas about nationalising healthcare, or their anti-war criticism. Instead, it will be entirely down to the rolling collapse of the Democratic Party as an institution.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe