Progressive Democrats enter Senate primaries, exposing party rifts

Without a clear party leader after losses up and down the ballot in 2024, progressive Democrats are heading into next year’s most competitive Senate primaries, exposing deep ideological fissures that some strategists warn could alienate undecided voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans celebrated progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s decision to launch a Senate campaign in Texas. While President Donald Trump called him “low IQ,” Crockett built a national audience, amassed millions of social media followers and built name recognition to instantly reshape the race.

Speaking to Fox News Digital, RS.C. “The Democratic Party is in shambles all over the country, and nowhere is that more evident than in Texas,” said Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “It’s great news that Jasmine is participating in this race.”

To Republicans, Crockett’s rise supports their argument that Democrats have drifted too far to the left to compete in red and purple states. His campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is defending his seat, agreed, telling Fox News Digital: “He can’t win, so I’m really happy he decided to run.”

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While Republicans breathe a sigh of relief that Texas could be a recruiting opportunity for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in 2026, some moderate Democrats remain unconvinced that a progressive candidate like Crockett would benefit the party in the long run.

Democratic strategist and co-founder of the centrist group Welcome, Liam Kerr, published a report in October titled “Deciding to Win,” warning that Democrats risked alienating voters by embracing far-left positions.

“Any Democrat who can do math should be worried,” Kerr told Fox News Digital, arguing that “it’s not just about losing this race.”

“This also hurts the overall party brand, hurts candidate voting, and loses muscle that focuses on persuading voters,” he said.

Crockett has gone viral for her public missteps and gaffes, from calling Gov. Greg Abbott “Governor Hot Wheels” during a House Oversight Committee hearing to referring to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a “white blonde, ill-built masculine body.”

President Donald Trump attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“When you publicly say we don’t need Trump voters to win, you’re not only denying the audience, you’re denying voters the opportunity to consider other races and for Democrats in the future,” Kerr said.

Kerr added that “centrists need to stand on the sidelines with the energy the left brings to these fights.”

“Republicans have developed a very clear framework for voters to view Democrats as elite, uninformed, and extreme,” Kerr explained. “Every time a high-profile Democrat says something irrelevant or extreme, it just adds credence to it, and it’s as if the undecided voter is permanently on a jury with a strong Republican prosecutor and lousy witnesses for the Democrats, and you continue to present more evidence that you’re guilty of extremism.“

And Republicans who spoke to Fox News Digital this week appeared to be following that playbook, too.

“We’re seeing Jasmine being replicated all over the country, copied all over the country,” Scott said. “Socialism is in fashion in the Democratic Party. It’s a sad day across the country for those who believe the Democratic Party will come back. They won’t come back. We will win, we will keep the majority, we will spread the majority all over the map.”

But the Democratic Party claimed it was “at fault” this year after gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey and after losing the ruby-red Tennessee district by nine points in a special election in December.

But Scott, one of the Republicans who is leading efforts to preserve the Senate majority, said the responsibility does not end with Crockett.

“Democrats, look at who they had in their primary; they trusted the Cocoa Puffs,” Scott said. “Michigan is a devastating showing. Three Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to lose to Mike Rogers.”

The rising progressive star among Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidates is state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who is aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, who recently filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Cornyn said the participation of progressive candidates in the Senate Democratic primaries proves that “the Democratic Party has become captive to the left wing,” pointing to the successful socialist campaign of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DY, speaks with reporters at a news conference on Capitol Hill. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Even people like Chuck Schumer have been hijacked by Bernie Sanders and the AOC wing of the Democratic Party,” Cornyn said, referring to progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on his insinuation that Senate Democrats were losing control.

Cornyn, who served two terms as NRSC chairman, said groups like the DSCC have lost power as candidates have been able to gain national recognition and form their own coalitions without the support of organized political parties.

“Organized political parties have lost their power because of the emergence of Super PACs and all these various ways that people can basically win these contested primaries, even without political party support, and with the small turnout in primaries and often with the most rabid activists, they end up electing people who are ultimately and hopefully unelectable,” Cornyn said. he said.

And Kerr told Fox News Digital that the DSCC “has a very strong track record, but the political industry is moving away from parties being in control.”

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Kerr argued that the DSCC’s “ability to slow down or stop these candidates has diminished over time,” adding, “The power of the official party is gradually decreasing with each passing year. In addition, individual candidates who can raise funds and communicate directly with hard-line Democrats are gaining more and more power compared to the party.” he said.“

When reached for comment, the DSCC pushed back on criticism that Senate Democrats’ campaign arm had lost control.

“DSCC has one goal: winning the Democratic Senate majority,” DSCC Spokesperson Maeve Coyle told Fox News Digital. he said. “We have created a way to make this cycle happen by hiring terrific candidates and expanding the map, building strong general election infrastructure, and disqualifying Republican challengers—strategies that have led Senate Democrats to overperform in the last four election cycles, and are how we will flip the majority in 2026.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks with reporters after announcing she will run in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate on Dec. 8, 2025, in Dallas, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

As Republicans seize on Democrats’ messy primaries and accuse far-left candidates of running the party, Democratic commentator Kaivan Shroff, a Hillary Clinton campaign alum, told Fox News Digital that primaries might actually be a good thing, and that Crockett, as “a qualified rising star in a seat-reapportioned party,” deserves the opportunity to run.

But Shroff cautioned that this “cannot be a mean-spirited, divisive primary where everything you don’t like about the other candidate is a conspiracy or everything is blamed on the establishment.”

The Democratic commentator applauded Texas State Rep. James Talarico for quickly reaffirming his commitment to treating Crockett “with the utmost respect” during the primary.

“I think there’s a great case to be made that having Crockett in this race is a net positive, whether he wins or loses,” Shroff said, especially if the two candidates can argue over policy differences rather than just attack Trump.

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While traditional party structures appear less effective as candidates can build their own brands and coalitions, Shroff said the party lacks clear leadership to guide candidates through such ideological junctures.

“We’ve seen that Nancy Pelosi is a truly unique expert on this, and how AOC handled the Squad when she first came in, and how unique that evolution has been. I don’t know that we have a leader in the party right now who can show that kind of leadership,” Shroff said.