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VOTERS DEMAND A BOLDER AND MORE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATIC PARTY  
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Marianne Dhenin
May 20, 2025
Yes! Magazine
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_ Anger among Democratic voters nationwide over the Trump
administration’s agenda and Democrats’ unwillingness to act as a
xxxxxx against its overreaches also points to a growing desire for
alternatives to the old guard. _

, David Hogg (left), Kat Abughazaleh (center), and Zohran Kwame
Mamdani (right).

 

I no longer believe in the Democratic Party,” says Kylie Sparks, a
Los Angeles–based actor, writer, and organizer. Sparks volunteered
for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2012 and worked on
Hillary Clinton’s influencer squad in 2016, drumming up support for
the candidate via their personal social media accounts. “I think the
Democrats need to evolve or let the progressive wing take over because
it’s clear that people want progressive politics
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The Democratic Party suffered major losses in the November 2024
election, which saw Donald Trump elected for a second term and the
Republican Party win majorities in both the Senate and the House of
Representatives. Since then, the party has seen its popularity sink
to an all-time low
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voters demand their Democratic representatives take more action
against the Trump administration’s overreaches. Instead, much of the
party leadership continues to play nice with the president
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Still, a new vision for the Democratic Party’s future, backed by
organizers like Sparks, seems to be emerging from its progressive
contingents. That vision could appeal to voters in the coming
elections, after many have grown disillusioned with Democratic Party
leadership in recent years.

While news headlines following Trump’s election win last year
painted a grim picture for progressives, the popularity of progressive
ballot measures in Republican
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Democratic-led states and the success of left-leaning candidates at
the state
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local levels tell a different tale
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For years, polling data has also shown that a majority of Americans,
Democrats and Republicans alike, support progressive policies, such
as Medicare for All
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Green New Deal
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and getting money
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of politics
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Anger among Democratic voters
[[link removed]] nationwide
over the Trump administration’s agenda and Democrats’
unwillingness to act as a xxxxxx against its overreaches also points
to a growing desire for alternatives to the old guard. A series
of “Hands Off” demonstrations
[[link removed]] organized
to protest the Trump administration’s actions drew an estimated 3
to 5 million people
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than 1,400 locations
[[link removed]] across
all 50 states
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April 5, 2025. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
have also drawn tens of thousands on stops for their Fighting
Oligarchy tour
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which Sanders launched following Trump’s re-election. Many of those
rallies have drawn larger crowds than any other event currently being
held by Democrats
[[link removed]].

Rallying cries on the Fighting Oligarchy tour go beyond frustration
with the Trump administration and include calls for progressive
policies such as universal healthcare and wealth taxation. These more
progressive ideas resonate with voters who were fed up with the
Democratic Party even before Trump’s re-election because they felt
Democratic leaders were not doing enough to protect abortion rights
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down the costs of living
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police violence
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communities of color, mitigate the effects of the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic
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Israel’s assault on Gaza
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Sparks is among those who began losing faith in the party years ago.
“One of the things that really radicalized me was the pandemic,”
they say. Sparks lives with chronic illness, and their mother is
disabled, making COVID-19 a particular threat. When Joe Biden was
inaugurated in January 2021, he promised to prioritize protecting
Americans from the virus. Instead, Sparks found the government’s
response insufficient. “They weren’t doing much, a lot of my
friends were forced to go back to work, and they got sick, and some of
them have either passed or have lifelong disability issues because of
it,” Sparks says.

For Rebecca June Lane, a New York City–based Democratic voter,
Democratic leaders’ waffling on reproductive rights has been a
disappointment for years. Lane says she began to follow politics more
closely in the early 2010s, when anti-choice bills
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state legislatures were making headlines, and “the Democratic Party
at that time wasn’t even there.” She welcomed Hillary Clinton’s
commitment to protecting abortion rights when she ran for president in
2016. “I respected Hillary a lot because she stood 10 toes down
about late-term abortions and the medical necessity of those all the
way through the debates,” says Lane, who also worked as a video
editor for Clinton’s campaign once she became the Democratic
nominee.

Biden, on the other hand, offered only lukewarm support for abortion
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the campaign trail in both 2020 and 2024, while disclosing that he
personally opposes the medical procedure
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Lane was disappointed when he became the Democratic Party’s nominee
for a second time last year. When Biden stepped down and Vice
President Kamala Harris took his place, “There was hope; there was
some momentum,” recalls Lane. “But that died as soon as it became
clear that Kamala’s platform was Biden’s platform.”

Many voters were also disappointed that Biden remained committed
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growing police forces nationwide and invested federal funds
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militarized police training facilities, often called “cop
cities,”
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his term, despite being elected on the tail of the 2020 nationwide
protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd
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The Biden administration’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza
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which began in October 2023, was also a deal-breaker for many.
“Anybody with their right mind would not go back to the Democrats,
because they have not shown any change,” Farah Khan, co-chair of
the Abandon Harris
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in Michigan and a former Democrat, told NBC News
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Harris made clear she would continue Biden’s pro-Israel politics and
refused to meaningfully engage with voters concerned about conditions
in Gaza. “They’re going to have to work really, really hard to win
their votes back.”

Democratic voters who have grown tired of the status quo on these
issues are finding hope in a growing wave of progressive grassroots
candidates seeking election. “​​We have seen a huge surge in
people raising their hands to say they want to run in just the last
six months,” says Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of Run
for Something [[link removed]], an organization that
recruits and supports young progressive candidates running in
down-ballot races.

Since Trump’s re-election, more than 40,000 people have signed up to
attend one of Run for Something’s candidate calls to learn about
running a campaign and the support the organization can provide.
That’s more new sign-ups in about six months than what Run for
Something saw in the first two years of Trump’s first term.
“There’s a sense of fury, rage, disappointment, and a little bit
of hope” among those who join the candidate calls, says Litman.
“They are seeing other people step up to run and lead in this
moment, and it’s inspiring them to do the same.”

Some districts long-held by conventionalist Democrats are
already staring down primary opponents
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on more progressive platforms. No candidate is more famous than Kat
Abughazaleh [[link removed]], the 24-year-old content
creator turned politician who is running in Illinois’s 9th
Congressional District, where longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky announced
[[link removed]] unexpectedly
on May 5 that she would not run for reelection. “Donald Trump and
Elon Musk are dismantling our country piece by piece, and so many
Democrats seem content to just sit back and let them,” Abughazaleh
said in a campaign launch announcement
[[link removed]]. “While current
Democratic leadership might be fine cowering to Trump, I’m not.”

Zohran Kwame Mamdani [[link removed]], a 33-year-old
New York state assembly member from Queens, is also making waves with
his campaign for mayor in New York City. Mamdani is running as a
socialist on a platform that promises to make the city more affordable
for working people. It’s a significant change of pace in a race
typically dominated by real estate and finance money and won by party
insiders—and it’s resonating with voters
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Young people
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been at the forefront
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political change in the U.S. for years. Now, Litman says they are
stepping up to lead progressive efforts in record numbers after
many turned away from Democrats
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the most recent election. “The thing that really makes this moment
different is that there is so much interest in not waiting to be given
permission,” she says. “A really common theme we have heard from
folks on our candidate calls is that they are done waiting for someone
else to do the work for them.” Run for Something expects to work
with about 300 candidates this year and at least double that in 2026
when midterm elections are held. 

Young people are also shaking up the Democratic National Convention
(DNC), with David Hogg, a 25-year-old political organizer and survivor
of the 2018 Parkland high school shooting, winning a bid to become DNC
Vice Chair in February 2025. Hogg also founded Leaders We Deserve, a
grassroots political organization that helps elect young progressives
to Congress and state houses nationwide. The organization
has committed to challenging
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than a dozen Democratic incumbents in the 2026 midterms, which has
drawn both ire from party leadership
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from some on the left
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think Hogg’s agenda does not go far enough

Besides welcoming a new wave of progressive challengers in elections
at every level, disillusioned Democratic voters are also getting
involved in other political arenas, such as labor unions
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aid efforts
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“I think for progressive politics to really win, we have to start
local,” says Sparks, who organizes with the American actors’ union
SAG-AFTRA and volunteered on Nithya Raman and Gina Viola’s campaigns
for local government in Los Angeles in 2020 and 2022, respectively.

Lane, the New Yorker, says she hopes the despair and frustration that
many left-leaning Americans are experiencing now will lead them to
think big. “I truly believe that we should not be hampered by the
restrictions of where we are right now, but we need to take bold
steps,” she says. “I see this on the other side in terms of
marching toward fascism, and I want that boldness on the left to march
away from fascism.”

_Marianne Dhenin
[[link removed]] is a YES! Media
contributing writer. Find their portfolio and contact them
at mariannedhenin.com._

_It is with deep heartbreak yet overwhelming gratitude that we share
that YES! MEDIA WILL SUNSET OPERATIONS AT THE END OF JUNE 2025. This
decision comes after years spent exhausting every possible path to
sustainability for YES! including restructuring, scaling back
operations, exploring bold new strategies, and calling on our
community for support. But despite these efforts, slowed giving and
reduced philanthropic investment in independent media—particularly
media that centers the stories and voices of historically excluded
communities—have left us without a viable path forward._

_YES! will continue operations through JUNE 30, 2025. In the coming
weeks, we hope to share how you can continue to access our full
digital archive—a public treasure trove of nearly three decades of
movement journalism, bold ideas, and community-rooted storytelling
that we are working to ensure remains publicly available and
accessible._

* Democratic Party
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* progressive politics
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* insurgent campaigns
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* Medicare for All
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* Green New Deal
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* Fighting Oligarchy Tour
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