A growing rift between Democrats and their growing socialist wing is threatening to alienate the very voters the party needs to win elections — including people who have lived under communist regimes.
On Mark Halperin’s The Morning Meeting platform, a Puerto Rican-born voter with Cuban heritage living in Florida sounded the alarm Monday over the Democrats’ far-left drift and announced a permanent breakup with the party he used to support.
“I’m a pretty open-minded guy. I voted Democrat many times. I was a big supporter of Hillary Clinton. I thought she was great, but the way this Democratic Party is going now, I don’t even want to hear it,” the voter named Gary said. “I’m just a Republican going forward. I can’t have it. I can’t have it. It’s just insulting to me the fact that the Democratic Party has allowed these parasites… into the party.”
“It’s offensive. I’ve had uncles that have been imprisoned in Cuba for just being part of a Baptist church,” he added.
Since President Donald Trump’s re-election, the Democratic establishment has watched its leftist wing barnstorm the country, racking up one victory after another. Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s upset in New York City’s mayoral primary kicked off the movement’s breakthrough, followed by three Democratic Socialists of America-backed leftists ousting longtime Democratic representatives. The socialist-aligned Left also steamrolled its way through Washington, D.C. and Denver, then succeeded in nominating Graham Platner for the U.S. Senate in Maine before he dropped out of the race following a rape allegation.
The movement scored another huge win earlier this month when Michigan Democrats nominated Abdul El-Sayed for U.S. Senate, delivering a humiliating blow to the party establishment, which failed to stop him from advancing to a pivotal November showdown with Trump-endorsed Republican Mike Rogers. Results showed El-Sayed won younger and more educated voters, while his establishment-backed rival, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), performed strongest among black and working-class voters, highlighting the DSA disconnect with traditionally faithful Democratic voting blocs.
“What would you like to see the Democratic Party do?” Halperin asked Gary, who responded, “I don’t know.”
“I think it’s part of an indoctrination of a lot of upper-class white young kids that are clueless. I think that’s really the base of the DSA. It’s not the working class. It’s just not. I don’t know the answer. I don’t care,” Gary said.
Most Latinos living in the U.S. have a favorable view of capitalism, with 82% of Cubans reporting negative views towards socialism, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. On top of that, the DSA membership is overwhelmingly white and has long struggled to recruit a more racially diverse group of organizers.
Anti-socialist and anti-communist messaging has long resonated with Florida’s Latino voters, who made up nearly a quarter of the state’s 2024 electorate and backed Trump, according to exit polls. At the first-of-its-kind Republican midterm convention in Dallas, GOP leaders plan to take that message nationwide, framing November’s election as a choice between “common sense and crazy,” The Daily Wire reported.
A Republican source told The Daily Wire that the convention will spotlight the socialist’s movement’s most fringe positions on gender, policing, efforts to cancel Thanksgiving, as well as the growing electoral influence of leftist streamer Hasan Piker, who has admitted to colluding with Cuba’s communist regime.
Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is also worried that Republicans’ “anti-communist” messaging could sink socialist candidates and jeopardize the party’s chances of retaking control of Congress. During a podcast appearance with liberal tech journalist Kara Swisher, Clinton raised concerns about the electability of El-Sayed and other DSA-backed candidates.
“You’re not going to convince Republican voters in Michigan, and the real fight will be how do we make sure that people who voted for Haley feel comfortable voting for Abdul El-Sayed, and how do we get independents to feel comfortable?” Clinton asked. “And you can see that it’s not just about Michigan, but the Republican messaging is communist, socialist. It’s going to be a very effective attack.”
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