Democrats, meanwhile, are divided over how much attention Trump’s attacks deserve. Some centrist Democrats worry that the “communist” charges will resonate with enough voters to cost them competitive races, and blame the party’s recent embrace of democratic socialist candidates for giving Republicans an opening.
“I would hope that Democratic primary voters pick more mainstream candidates, because every time they pick a radical, it makes it harder for people elsewhere to run and win,” says Matt Bennett, a co-founder of the centrist Democratic organization Third Way.
Others argue that trying to distance the party from its left flank only reinforces Trump’s framing and distracts from the economic message they believe propelled many of those candidates to victory.
“If running on that agenda invites attacks, I think we should lean into it,” says Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, a liberal group founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders. “The best way to guard yourself against attacks is to stand for nothing…The electorate wants candidates who are fighting to challenge the status quo.”
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