Democrat split: Socialists put Schumer on ropes
Rising socialist momentum in the Democratic primaries threatens party unity as far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly wins 48.5% of the vote to defeat moderate Haley Stevens in Michigan.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is arguing that Democrats are descending a dark path as a socialist insurgency on the left continues to notch victories against the party’s establishment.
Republicans on the campaign trail have seized on the raging civil war within the Democratic Party, warning that a recent slate of wins by candidates linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is pushing one of the United States’ two main political parties much further left than the vast majority of Americans are comfortable with.
“Right now, it’s a contrast election for everybody,” Johnson said during a campaign stop in Arizona. “They’ve got to make a decision that they want to continue with common sense, growth and opportunity, or they want to go to this dark down, dangerous, deadly road of communism.”
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., from left, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speak during the “The People v. The Powerful” campaign event at the Detroit Opera House in Detroit on July 18, 2026. (Nic Antaya/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He said it was a choice “between common sense and crazy.”
Johnson and other House GOP leaders are crisscrossing the country visiting districts represented by vulnerable Republican lawmakers and other areas where the GOP believes it has a shot of winning in November.
The Louisiana Republican made a similar pitch earlier this week during a town hall for Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., who is facing a well-connected and well-funded primary opponent on Thursday night.
“Could we’ve imagined even 10 years ago, if somebody told us that on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the greatest nation in the history of the world, in the midterm, in the fall of 2026, we’d be in a contest to determine whether we’re going to maintain our constitutional republic — the greatest nation in history — or go down this dark, dangerous, deadly road to communism?” Johnson said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, speaks to members of the media after a meeting with House Republicans at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on July 15, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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It’s likely going to be a line the speaker often uses during his appearances ahead of the midterms, with Republicans writ large seeing a boon in the far-left candidates toppling establishment Democrats.
The left’s socialist insurgency scored significant wins earlier this week when Dr. Abdul El-Sayed beat out establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., for the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open Senate seat.
Elsewhere in the state, Sunrise Movement co-founder William Lawrence defeated former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink for the Democratic nomination to face Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., in what will be one of the most closely watched battleground races of November.
Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, left, Sen. Bernie Sanders, center, and House candidate William Lawrence, right, at a rally in Lansing, Mich., on July 19, 2026. (Andrew Roth/Sipa USA via Reuters)
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Among the DSA’s policy positions is a call for eliminating the U.S. Senate and extending voting rights to noncitizens and felons on a national level.
Republicans are fighting an uphill battle to defy decades of political convention to keep and even expand their razor-thin majority in the House, but GOP leaders are betting on more far-left victories to give their party a better shot.