Next wave of Squad-style progressive Democrats emerge across America

Galvanized by the President Donald Trump’s Expanding on a second-term agenda, a new generation of progressive Democrats is working to redefine the future of the party.

The original “Squad” is a group of young, left-wing MPs, including members of the House of Representatives. Alexandria Ocasio-CortezDY was elected to the US House of Representatives in 2018 with a referendum on Trump’s first term.

Now, with Trump back in the Oval Office and Republicans controlling both the House of Representatives and the Senate, a new wave of progressive candidates is emerging across the country.

The next generation of progressive leaders includes recognizable names like mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, “Minneapolis’s Mamdani” Omar Fateh, U.S. Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow, and progressive congressional candidates Kat Abuhazaleh and “Tennessee’s AOC” Aftyn Behn.

SQUAD 2.0: MEET AMERICA’S NEXT WAVE OF RADICAL DEMOCRATS SHAPING THE FUTURE OF THE PARTY

Saikat Chakrabarti, Dr. Others, like Abdul El-Sayed and Justin Pearson, are gaining national attention as discontent among young Democrats grows with the Trump administration’s second move.

YOUNG PROGRESSIVES LOOK FORWARD TO AOC ZOHRAN MAMDANI AS THE FUTURE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY – UNDER ONE CONDITION

Saikat Chakrabarti

Saikat Chakrabarti burst onto the political scene during the rise of the first “Squad,” running Ocasio-Cortez’s successful 2018 congressional campaign and then serving as her chief of staff.

The progressive met Ocasio-Cortez when she founded “Justice Democrats,” a political action committee committed to recruiting the next generation of leaders.

Now Chakrabarti will challenge House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi for San Francisco’s congressional district next year, making him a generational candidate for the seat he’s held since 1987.

Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D.C., attends a press conference on Monday, July 15, 2019, in Washington, DC. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

After 38 years in Congress, Chakrabarti said Pelosi “no longer has enough power for the current fight” and that it was time for “completely new leadership” in Washington, D.C.

His policy platform includes It’s a long list of progressive promises, including health insurance for all, a wealth tax on the ultra-rich, millions of homes, a congressional ban on stock trading, and an end to military funding for Israel.

During a phone interview, Chakrabarti told Fox News Digital that his main focus is on fixing the “fundamental economic concerns facing most Americans”; This was the same “bold, comprehensive economic change plan” that brought Trump back to the White House last year.

Chakrabarti said a new generation of candidates like himself have been inspired to run since witnessing “the complete failure of the Democratic political institution.”

“I think people feel like the Democratic Party, the establishment, is a little weak, slow-moving, and incapable of confronting this moment,” he added.

House Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on November 19, 2024 (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Chakrabarti’s first campaign pledge is to stop Trump’s “authoritarian coup,” according to his website.

The congressional candidate called Trump’s deportation order, carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, “a clear violation of our constitutional rights, our freedom of expression, and everything we hold dear in this country.”

“This isn’t really a left-right thing,” he said when asked whether the party would move left in response to Trump’s second term.

“I think people are looking for real solutions to problems. People are looking for a change in the system, and I don’t think Donald Trump has done that, but Donald Trump has expressed that in his campaign.”

Overall, Chakrabarti said voters were “very sick and tired of corruption” and that what he described as the “old guard” were only thinking of themselves rather than their voters.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is one of several progressive candidates running for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat next year.

According to “Abdul literally wrote the book on Medicare for All” to the campaign website. He wrote “Medicare for All: A Citizen’s Guide,” explaining how the U.S. health care system can provide affordable care to all Americans.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, on Monday, March 9, 2020, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. He made statements at the coronavirus public health roundtable meeting. (Erin Kirkland/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

El-Sayed ran the Health Department after Detroit’s bankruptcy and restructured Wayne County’s Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services. In 2020, he helped President Joe Biden create policies to help lower prescription drug prices.

He believes medical debt should be eliminated and that students deserve debt- and tuition-free two-year apprenticeships or four-year college education.

Justin Pearson

Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson gained national attention in 2023, just a few months after taking office, when he was expelled from the Republican-led legislature for protesting the mass shooting in Nashville that left three 9-year-old children and three adults dead.

Pearson was expelled along with state Reps. Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson, known as the “Tennessee Three.” Voters re-elected Pearson weeks later with 94% of the vote.

He co-founded the Memphis Against Pollution Community, a climate justice nonprofit.

Tennessee state Reps. Justin Pearson, Gloria Johnson and Justin Jones, from left, leave the White House after meeting with President Joe Biden on April 24, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Pearson was endorsed by congressional candidate Chakrabarti’s former PAC, “Justice Democrats,” in his campaign for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District.

Pearson also received an endorsement from “Leaders We Deserve,” a super PAC founded by former DNC vice chairman David Hogg. Hogg created a rift in the Democratic Party by promising to invest millions to support young, progressives challenging older, incumbent Democrats who he said were “asleep at the wheel.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, El-Sayed and Pearson but did not immediately receive a response. Pelosi’s spokesman declined to comment.