Centrist Dems launch '28 mission: Stop AOC
· Axios
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Moderate Democrats are on a mission to stop the next Bernie Sanders, starting with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
- Third Way, an influential center-left group, is bringing together hundreds of elected officials, party leaders and operatives here this weekend to build a case for nominating a middle-of-the-road Democrat — not a liberal — for president in 2028.
Why it matters: Centrist Democrats' efforts to shape the next election have taken on a new urgency as liberals such as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and others have unexpectedly won races.
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- It's a reflection of the deep divisions within the party over how to take on President Trump's MAGA Republicans.
What they're saying: Third Way president Jon Cowan kicked off the event Sunday by taking shots at Ocasio-Cortez, the most high-profile democratic socialist eyeing a White House run.
- In a speech at the grand, 12-story Francis Marion Hotel, Cowan said that since 2018 political groups tied to AOC and Sanders "have flipped zero" battleground House seats, making it a risk for the party to pick a liberal as its standard-bearer.
- A spokesperson for Justice Democrats, the group that helped elect AOC, shot back that its focus is challenging "corporate Dems in deep-blue seats," not flipping GOP seats.
- Cowan also blasted other liberal heroes, slamming "out-of-touch teachers' unions," criticizing "the language police," and telling Democrats to "stop peddling the idea that there are tens of millions of nonvoters just waiting to be mobilized by a left-wing siren song. It is delusional and widely debunked."
- Cowan also said exit polls showed former Vice President Harris was seen by voters as "more extreme" than Trump in 2024.
Between the lines: Third Way, one of the chief opponents of Sanders' 2016 and 2020 presidential bids, isn't alone: Since President Trump won a second term, new center-left groups such as Searchlight Institute, Majority Democrats and Next American Era have urged the party to move to the middle.
The other side: Liberals rolled their eyes at the centrist gathering, saying that the Democratic establishment's favored nominees have lost to Trump twice. They think a muscular populist vision will inspire people to come to the polls.
- "If I were at the event with these guys, I would want to stand up and say, 'Okay, hear what you're saying. But my question is, what's your prescription for winning back working-class voters?' " said Mark Longabaugh, a top adviser to Sanders' 2016 campaign.
- "'What is your message to them? That we're moderate? That's a message?'"
The intrigue: Speakers at Third Way's "Winning the Middle" event, which continues Monday, were scheduled to include Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina, political commentator Matt Yglesias, Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
- Among those who RSVP'd to attend: Officials at Google, Meta and General Motors; Biden White House alumni; an aide at the secretive super PAC Future Forward, and several Democratic leaders from states that traditionally have held early presidential primaries.
Reality check: More than any retreat, this year's midterm elections will test which Democratic candidates are best-equipped to flip red seats — and have an outsized impact on the 2028 debate.