Two years ago, a slate of radical democratic socialists shocked the state of Nevada by winning all but one of the party leadership positions. In response, every paid staffer who worked for the Democratic Party resigned. Judith Whitmer became chairman of the party, and the civil war was on.
The embittered establishment Democrats led by the remnants of the Harry Reid coalition formed an opposition party to the regular Democrats. Reid, the former Senate Majority Leader, almost singlehandedly turned Nevada from a reliable red state during the 1970s and ’80s to a swing state.
The socialists won thanks to some radical union support and their dominance in Clark County where the Las Vegas-based culinary union holds sway. But establishment Democrats formed their own coalition of mostly elected officials and, on Saturday, kicked the socialists out.
Munroe-Moreno, who is the first Black woman elected to lead Nevada Democrats, was backed by a slew of elected officials as well as the so-called Reid Machine, the powerful organization first brought together by the late Nevada Sen. Harry Reid.
The results come after a tumultuous term under Whitmer, who repeatedly clashed with key figures in the party. Establishment Democrats charged that she had at times undermined her own party, including Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, who was in a close re-election race last cycle.
Whitmer also lost the support of some of her progressive allies, including in Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ camp and with local democratic socialists.
The significance of the defeat of the Democratic Socialist Party in Nevada should not be underestimated. The progressive wave that began with the election of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (R-N.Y.) in 2018 may already have crested. Establishment Democrats have begun to fight back to keep the party viable. In Chicago, a law-and-order candidate appears ready to win the mayor’s race from a “defund the police” activist. In San Francisco, the local Soros-backed prosecutor Chesa Boudin was recalled, and several other Soros-backed prosecutors around the country are in serious trouble.
Nothing concentrates the mind better than the prospect of being hung. And establishment Democrats realize they can’t win elections running as socialists or radical culture warriors.
If there ever was a “progressive moment,” it’s gone. Some of the dregs like AOC, Ilhan Omar, and other radicals will remain. But Bernie Sanders is 81. Elizabeth Warren is 73. Who will replace them as socialist icons?
They will pretend a socialist nirvana is just around the corner. All we have to do is give the government another $5 trillion or so and it will be heaven on earth.
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