The News
All kinds of Democratic dreams died on Nov. 5. For progressives, the key defeats had happened months earlier.
New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Missouri Rep. Cori Bush lost their primaries thanks to a torrent of money from pro-Israel and centrist Democratic groups, which recruited less left-wing candidates – Rep.-elect George Latimer, Rep.-elect Wesley Bell. They were the first incumbent defeats for Justice Democrats, founded in 2017 by veterans of Bernie Sanders’s first presidential campaign to replace “corporate Democrats” with progressives with working class backgrounds and no PAC money.
Those races consumed Justice Democrats’ attention this year — the first, since its founding, when it did not recruit more candidates to run against Democrats in safe seats, or in open seats that the party was likely to win. Alexandra Rojas, the group’s executive director, talked with Americana about its still-forming 2026 plans, and about a Democratic blame game that has followed the party’s tradition — heaping responsibility on progressives and left-wing ideas.
The Interview
Americana: How does Justice Democrats view 2026? Is it going to be another cycle on defense, or are you going to go on the offense in new seats?
Alexandra Rojas: We’re definitely on the offensive. Since we started, our whole pitch has been that working people deserve just as much as billionaires to run our government. We were making the case that the Democratic Party has really lost its way, especially with working people. And in this Congress, Republicans have everything.
There is this vacuum of leadership in the party, especially at our highest levels of power. There’s been a directive from voters that it’s time to clean up shop, that they do not want people that have been in power.That the leadership void could be filled by those who represent the working class — or it can be continued to be filled by Democrats that are really comfortable cozying up with Wall Street and billionaires, which was a huge part of this cycle. This donor, pundit, strategist class that has had a lot of the power in the party was repudiated.
How and when are you going to recruit candidates?
It’s part art, part science. Candidate recruitment is a 24/7/365 thing for us. We’re constantly getting nominations through our website. We’re constantly doing research into Democratic districts across the country, looking at the data. This cycle, we want to kind of put all corporate Democrats on notice. There’s a hunger for that, and we’ve seen it through our supporter base.
What’s the art and science after this year? Because the districts that look safe for Democrats changed this year: Justice Democrats targeted Henry Cuellar’s seat when it was deep blue, and it’s shifted right. In New Jersey, Dems nearly lost Bill Pascrell’s seat — that was safe until right now.
We’re going to continue to lean into where our competitive edge has been, which is deep blue and open seats in Democratic districts. Even in places like Laredo, which you’re alluding to — these are places that I think Democrats take for granted. We want to have Democrats that represent the full working class base and make sure that they are not accepting money from these corporate special interests that are quite literally destroying our democracy and taking away voters’ choice. That’s what we saw this year, especially from AIPAC and crypto.
During the last Trump presidency, it was “The Squad,” in a lot of cases, that was really taking it to the Republicans. And they were getting the most negative coverage. They are going to continue to take the brunt of that, and the leadership is going to be tested on how they respond in those moments. When this administration is cutting taxes for the wealthy, or doing anything else that’s going to hurt working people, we need leaders who are going to speak to that pain, while also not taking money from those same billionaires and corporations that are going to have a free-for-all under Trump.
Where do you expect to be on defense? I talked with Democratic Majority for Israel; the fact that Tlaib didn’t endorse Harris, that’s something they may use against her, even if they’ve struggled to find a real candidate. They didn’t get very far with the challenge against Ilhan Omar, but she’s on notice, too.
I mean, based on the level of money that’s been spent, we’re on defense all the time. They have the money, they have the resources, and they’re going to attack Rashida and the rest of “The Squad” all the time. It was unprecedented for $30 million to be spent against Justice Democrats in just two primaries, against a nurse and a principal. Everybody who cares about these members and what they represent needs to be on alert, and needs to be talking, right now, about this threat that big money in politics poses to democracy.
We saw that through Elon basically helping Trump buy this presidency. That was a bigger factor in this election than some activists saying a couple slogans a couple years ago.
Thanks for bringing that up. One of the big arguments about the election, from centrists, is that “the groups” on the left committed the party to bad rhetoric and crazy ideas. What does “the groups” mean to you?
They are scapegoats. Every cycle, the people in charge of the Party and its campaigns blame social movement groups that rarely have a seat at the table for their own failings and shortcomings. To them, “the groups” are anyone but themselves because that’s the only way they will continue to remain in power cycle after cycle. When we know the truth” The same donors, pundits, consultants, and politicians who have been in charge of the Party for decades are responsible for keeping Democrats beholden to the needs of corporations and billionaires, rather than everyday people.
The campaign we saw play out this year was overwhelmingly not progressive, because if it was, economic populism would be at its core, and that doesn’t come at the expense of marginalized communities. No Democrat ran on protecting trans children, or immigrants, or defund the police, so I wish that there was more self-reflection on their part. I do think that progressives, people like myself, are asking the same questions about where we go from here. I would hope that there’s more introspection from them. Maybe some humility, too.