The Democratic establishment won a key battle in the left's ongoing civil war with its socialist insurgency on Saturday.Longtime Rep.Ed Case, D-Hawaii, won his primary bid to seek another term in the House of Representatives, defeating progressive state Sen.
Jarrett Keohokalole.Case, who served in Congress from 2002 to 2007 and then won again in 2018, faced his toughest primary challenge yet this year.It comes amid a wider showdown between the Democratic establishment and its far-left flank that's seen multiple House incumbents lose to socialist upstarts.SOCIALIST VICTORIES SHOW DEMS' DESCENT DOWN 'DEADLY PATH OF COMMUNISM,' JOHNSON WARNSRep.
Ed Case, D-Hawaii, arrives for the start of the House Appropriations Committee markup of several appropriations bills in the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.
via Getty Images)Keohokalole, who's been in Hawaii's state legislature since 2014, was the most formidable of a group of primary challengers looking to oust Case this year.Both raised considerable money on the campaign trail, though the incumbent had more money in his war chest at the outset of the race.Keohokalole criticized Case for not doing enough to stand up to the Trump administration during the president's second term, including President Donald Trump's federal immigration operations.The sun sets behind the U.S.Capitol on a hot and humid evening on Aug.
4, 2026, in Washington, D.C.(Kevin Carter/Getty Images)The progressive challenger also attacked Case for being one of four House Democrats to vote for Republicans' initial iteration of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act in April 2025.JOHNSON'S STRATEGY TO BYPASS DEMOCRATS' SAVE ACT BLOCKADE SURVIVES KEY VOTE, HANDING GOP BIG WINThat version would have imposed a federal voter ID requirement at the polls as well as a proof of citizenship mandate for registering to vote, but would have allowed for a written affidavit absent that proof.Case tol...