“It’s time to clean up shop”: Justice Democrats vow primary challenges against establishment Dems

The Justice Democrats, the group behind many of the insurgent progressive Democratic challengers who pulled off shocking upsets in recent years, are putting the party’s establishment on notice, telling Salon that they intend to back primary challengers in the 2026 midterms. Usamah Andrabi, a spokesman for the group, told Salon that “it’s time to clean up shop in the Democratic Party frankly” and that “progressives and the left warned” about the looming failure for Democrats “for months and years prior.” “Every district that is a deep blue Democratic district has no excuse to not represent the needs of working-class people,” Andrabi said. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism While the group has backed off of aggressive primary challenges to incumbent Democrats in recent years, Andrabi said that the Democrats’ failure to deliver any major victories in 2024 showed that the preferred electoral strategy of the party’s establishment is ineffective. “We continue to allow our party to align ourselves with the wealthiest few and everyday people are beginning to take notice.” Although the group has not yet identified where it plans to run primary challengers in 2026, Andrabi said that they would be watching for opportunities to oust Democrats who are not serving their district or representing their working-class base and encouraged people to nominate strong candidates for primary challenges. The centrist Democratic polling firm Blueprint released an election postmortem squarely pinning the loss on inflation, the perception that “Too many immigrants illegally crossed the border under the Biden-Harris Administration” and the notion that “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class.” Blueprint is bankrolled by billionaire LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman who, early in Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, supported Harris while also pressuring her to abandon populist economic messaging that featured prominently in the first days of her campaign.