John, since the 2024 election ended and Democratic Party leadership failed to stop Donald Trump from winning a second presidency, there have been a lot of bad takes out there, including that the Harris campaign ran too left of center.

With the Democratic nominee refusing to break from President Biden on arming Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, walking back her past positions in support of popular progressive policies like Medicare for All and taking on corporations, throwing immigrant communities under the bus, and cozying up to pro-war Republicans like Dick and Liz Cheney, we know that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The reality is the Harris campaign ran to the right in an attempt to court Republican voters rather than appealing to the Democratic base by pushing for the bold changes the working class needs and deserves to thrive.

It’s one reason why we saw progressive incumbents like Rep. Rashida Tlaib and ballot measures like Maine’s effort to get big money out of politics perform better than Harris/Walz despite being on the same ticket!

Commentators and political establishment folks claiming the Democratic Party was too “woke” and talked too much about issues like “defund the police” this cycle are desperately missing the point and avoiding taking accountability for their own failures. As Jon Stewart explained in last night’s Daily Show monologue, “They acted like Republicans for the last four months.”

We will not let them gaslight us after we witnessed the Party take a hard turn right, throwing vulnerable communities like undocumented immigrants and transgender people under the bus. Moderate cowards like Rep. Seth Moulton who are insisting that our Party should abandon trans kids do not deserve to represent us in office. We fully agree with Rep. Summer Lee:

If this Party is serious about rebuilding trust with the people and taking power back in Washington, it needs to start putting the interests of those people before corporations, super PACs, and billionaires.

We need a new generation of leaders unbeholden to corporations and the wealthy elite, with the courage to actually listen and do something about the problems everyday people face. Justice Democrats is working to find and recruit those very leaders: will you fuel our Candidate Recruitment Fund with a donation of $5 or more today?

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We are recruiting everyday working Americans — nurses, principals, union workers, and community organizers — in districts where the incumbent (Democrat or Republican) is out-of-touch with voters, in order to transform our economy and democracy. Thanks for anything you can contribute to support us.

In solidarity,

Justice Democrats

PS — While the establishment looks for those who can afford to run for office, we look for local leaders nominated to run by their own community. If you know a progressive leader who should run for Congress, nominate them here →