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**OCTOBER 27, 2025**

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I never have subscribed to the Great Man theory of politics or history; there are always movements behind the leader who gets the credit. I think too many Democrats who practice politics online are falling into this trap, focused on their team players who wear their progressive and centrist uniforms and forgetting about how change happens. So this is an attempt to explain that [link removed]. Look inside for snippets of interviews with some congressional candidates you’ll hear more about in 2026.

**–David Dayen, executive editor**

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Photo illustration by Lauren Pfeil. Sources: Bob Brooks; Tom Williams/AP Photo;Caleb Jones/AP Photo; bypae/Getty Images.

Politicians Aren’t Heroes [link removed]

Seth Moulton is not a progressive; he will tell you that himself. He’s a New Democrat Coalition member, he rather prominently picked a fight [link removed] by opposing trans participation in youth sports right after the 2024 elections, and he’s generally a down-the-line, center-left Democrat.

Yet the moment he jumped into a U.S. Senate primary against progressive Ed Markey, he essentially kicked off his campaign with the announcement [link removed] that he would be returning all donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and would refuse any further contributions from them. “AIPAC has aligned itself too closely with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government,” Moulton wrote in a statement.

This is far from an isolated incident. Mallory McMorrow, running for Senate in Michigan, has called Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide [link removed], and after appearing to solicit support from AIPAC in a leaked message, said she would not accept any. Likely 2028 candidate Pete Buttigieg flipped to support [link removed] limiting arms sales to Israel, joining multiple former [link removed] recipients of AIPAC cash [link removed]. People like House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and New Democrat caucus leader Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who are as squarely inside the pro-Israel foreign-policy establishment as anyone, are criticizing the Netanyahu government [link removed] and favoring the use of U.S. leverage. The annual AIPAC-funded trip to Israel for freshman Democrats had low attendance [link removed].

This is all happening because of the recoiled horror at Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza, but also because a protest movement made this a priority and influenced public opinion. Polling [link removed] shows Americans opposing military aid to Israel and siding with the Palestinians; the numbers among Democrats are a whopping 54-13 in favor of Palestine. This is at all levels of the party, including older voters.

In other words, unfolding events moved the center of gravity and forced all factions of the political leadership of the party to its side. But it didn’t happen in a vacuum. For all the discomfort over college students protesting on campuses, it played a major role in pushing attention and changing minds.

The issue led the politicians, not the other way around. College kids and activists don’t have a super PAC, and in 2024 their few champions in Congress actually lost ground amid an onslaught of AIPAC cash. But none of that mattered when public sentiment changed: Those in power got out in front of the parade and pretended to be leading it.

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