The Growth of a New Progressive Movement
“Socialist”… a label that less than a decade ago may have signaled the death of any political campaign. However, over the course of the last decade, Bernie Sanders and a new progressive movement have redefined the political landscape by introducing what were once considered radical left policies into mainstream political conversations and by galvanizing people through grassroots campaigning.
Establishment politicians of both parties continue to turn their backs on working-class people. Issues such as universal healthcare, student loans, economic inequality, and climate change are being ignored. These issues need to be addressed with strong policies at the local and federal levels. Politicians continue to succumb to super-PACs and corporate donors continue who push them to support large corporations over their own constituents. As these issues continued to be exacerbated by politicians in Washington, people began to look for public figures and elected officials that represented their concerns, and thus a new progressive movement lead by people who are willing to take political risks and propose policies that push the limits and address the core issues of working and middle class took shape.
On April 30th, 2015, Bernie Sanders announced his presidential campaign. Sanders stood out as a unique political candidate. Sanders was not registered as a member of the Democratic Party for the majority of his tenure in the United States Senate, and he holds strong policy positions that are far-left to those held by establishment Democrats. During his 2016 campaign, Sanders declared that he is a Democratic Socialist and called for a political revolution that would fight against our government’s systemic problems. Sanders laid the foundation for a new progressive movement by proposing policies such as Medicare-For-All, Free Public College, a $15 minimum wage, and putting an end to the endless wars in the Middle East. Much to the dismay of Sanders’ supporters, however, Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, and to add on to that dismay Clinton herself went on to lose the general election in a shocking upset to Donald Trump.
Despite losing in 2016, Sanders’ campaign inspired a new group of young progressive candidates across the country to run for congress in 2018. Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pramila Jayapal, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ro Khanna, Raul Grijalva, and Deb Haaland were among the notable progressive victories in the 2018 congressional elections. And these progressive candidate victories were not due to luck, it was due to widespread support for progressive policies: Medicare-For-All, banning Super-PACS, strong environmental policy like the Green New Deal, and a $15 minimum wage are becoming widely popular.
Sanders announced his second presidential campaign in February 2019. Due to his national prominence in 2016 and his large grass-roots base, Sanders came into the Democratic primary race as a favorite to win the candidacy. However, after a strong start to the Democratic primaries, Sanders lost the South Carolina primary to Joe Biden and then lost many primaries on Super Tuesday to Joe Biden. Soon after, Sanders had to drop out of what was likely his last race for the Presidency.
Once again, despite his loss, the effect his campaign has had can be seen in a new group of progressive candidates who in 2020 won Democratic primaries against corporate Democrats in “blue” districts and in the many other progressive candidates who are still campaigning to be on the ballot in November or to be elected in November. So far in 2020, notable progressive victories include Jamaal Bowman, Tom Siegel, and Mondaire Jones, and notable races that are still ongoing include Jen Perellman vs Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Albert Lee vs Earl Blumenauer, and Cori Bush vs William Lacy Clay.
In just four years, support for progressive candidates and progressive policies like Medicare-For-All, the Green New Deal, banning corporate-PAC donations, and legalizing marijuana have surged. Though Sanders, the movement’s initial spearhead, may not continue much longer as the leader, the movement seems poised only to continue to grow in the 2020s and beyond, and I, for one, am all for it.
