Far-left candidates did poorly in the Democratic primaries

“CHANGE can’t wait,” repeated Ayanna Pressley after defeating Michael Capuano, a ten-term incumbent, in her Democratic primary. Three months earlier, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pledged that her victory over Joseph Crowley, a 20-year incumbent, was “the beginning” of Medicare for all and other progressive policies in America. To the naked eye, months of left-wing victories in primary elections have placed the Democratic Party on a new path towards democratic socialism. This is misleading. The lesson of this year’s primaries is that Democratic voters are pragmatists who pick the candidate most likely to win, rather than the one who seems the most likely heir to Karl Marx.

Ever since an exodus of white conservative southerners from the Democratic Party in the 1960s, objecting to the civil- rights movement, the party has maintained a fragile balance between a coalition of different demographic and social groups. Left-leaning college educated whites, blue-collar social conservatives and nonwhites—especially African Americans—unite under the Democratic banner to elect candidates who reflect a wide array of interests.