Authored by Katherine Gehl via RealClearPolitics,
Despite the narrow loss by Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong in the Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial primary last week, DSA candidates have prevailed in primaries this year from Maine to California. The Democratic Party establishment believed it dodged a bullet in Wisconsin, but this threat is not going away any time soon.
The roots of the radical left's success were seeded almost a decade ago. In 2017, a writer in a Democratic Socialists of America publication laid out a strategy under a plain title: "Want to Elect Socialists? Run Them in Democratic Primaries." The Democratic Party, the article conceded, was deeply flawed - but it was the easiest available path for socialists to win elections and build power. Nearly a decade later, that strategy is bearing fruit. Democratic Socialist and allied candidates are winning Democratic primaries, and with them, safe Democratic seats - maybe even some competitive seats.
We have seen this before, on the right side of the political spectrum. Donald Trump - who sought the Reform Party's presidential nomination in 2000 and registered as an independent in 2011 - ultimately abandoned the outsider path. His nationalist-populist movement could not realistically win
