Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville warned on Thursday that far-left candidates winning elections are a liability for the party at the national level.A wave of democratic socialist candidates winning Democratic primaries in New York City, Abdul El-Sayed's competitive bid for the Democratic nomination for Michigan's U.S.Senate seat and Francesca Hong's frontrunner status in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor have signaled a significant shift to the left for the party.On the "Politics War Room" podcast, Carville's co-host Al Hunt said that while he disagrees with the narrative that the far-left is ascendant or poised to take over the party, he warned that "It could create problems for other Democrats with a hyped-up narrative that the left is taking over the Democratic Party" and the attention on such candidates "really do pose problems for what otherwise is a good Democratic year.""I agree, and the problem with Michigan and Wisconsin is what happens in the Michigan Democratic primary doesn't stay in the Michigan Democratic primary," Carville said.
"What happens in the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor doesn't stay in Wisconsin, and they're going to be tagged as part of the Democratic Party," SCHUMER DODGES QUESTION ON WHETHER DSA BELONGS IN DEMOCRATIC PARTYJames Carville attends The New York Times DealBook Summit 2025 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Dec.3, 2025, in New York City.
(David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for The New York Times)While Carville has repeatedly predicted big wins for Democrats in the midterm elections, his mood has somewhat soured in recent months to the point that he has proposed a schism to keep the rising far-left flank out of power.On Thursday, he rhetorically asked democratic socialists, "Why don't you get another name? Why are you dragging our names through the mud with your bulls---? If you don't like it, call yourself something else."Carville went on to joke that the term "Democratic" can be appropriated even by ...