{"id":359713,"date":"2026-06-13T21:54:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/359713\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T21:54:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:54:34","slug":"progressive-upsets-highlight-tensions-within-california-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/359713\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressive upsets highlight tensions within California Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young, progressive candidates are showing the California Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee they don\u2019t need the party\u2019s money or support to win big.<\/a><\/p>\n

Democrats are clearly disregarding a golden rule of politics: Ignore the future of your party at your own peril.<\/p>\n

Three major races in California have seen progressive candidates take on establishment favorites with bigger war chests and better support. Despite their alienation from the party\u2019s attentions, these progressive candidates will advance to the general election this fall:<\/p>\n

In the Los Angeles mayoral race, progressive candidate Nithya Raman<\/a> came from behind to second place and will move on to oppose the Democratic incumbent, Mayor Karen Bass.<\/p>\n

In House District 22, Randy Villegas leapfrogged over the party favorite<\/a>, Jasmeet Bains, to take on the Republican incumbent, David Valadao \u2014 despite the DCCC promising to stay out of the race and then spending more than $100,000 on Bains\u2019 campaign.<\/p>\n

And in Sacramento\u2019s own House District 7, Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang has successfully mounted a challenge from the left to Democratic incumbent, Doris Matsui, after Vang was spurned by delegates at the California Democratic Party<\/a> convention in February.<\/p>\n

All three did it without the DCCC\u2019s support or endorsement.<\/p>\n

Now, Axios reports, some Democratic lawmakers in Congress are so mad<\/a> at their own party that they\u2019re threatening to withhold their dues to the DCCC, thanks to the national party\u2019s stubborn refusal to support young, progressive candidates in favor of moderates and incumbents who are failing to capture the public\u2019s vote or imagination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the DCCC owes House Democrats an explanation, and I would not be surprised if a number of members decide to put their DCCC giving on hold,\u201d a lawmaker granted anonymity by Axios said. \u201cSome of these decisions … are very perplexing.\u201d<\/p>\n

CADEM\u2019s decision to spend $135,000 on Jasmeet Bains\u2019 failed campaign in California\u2019s House District 22 sparked a bout of infighting over the party\u2019s (perceived or otherwise) meddling in Dem-on-Dem races to back the candidates they view as more electable \u2014 even when the public clearly prefers another candidate.<\/p>\n

If they\u2019re both Democrats, then the party should have stayed out of it until one or more rose to the top of the heap after the primaries. Instead, Bains\u2019 campaign was added to the DCCC\u2019s coveted list of flippable House districts \u2014 the Red to Blue list<\/a> \u2014 \u201ca highly competitive and battle-tested DCCC program that arms top-tier candidates with organizational and fundraising support to help them continue to develop strong campaigns,\u201d according to the DCCC\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

But some lawmakers remain unimpressed with their tactics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey lied to all of us,\u201d Christian Romo, chair of the Kern County Democratic Central Committee, told CalMatters. Romo said staff at the DCCC told him multiple times that it would not get involved in the D-22 primary race, barring a situation in which two Republican candidates might advance, CalMatters reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t happen, while Villegas, meanwhile, racked up the support of numerous national lawmakers like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez ,D-NY, as well as the endorsement of important Democratic groups such as The Working Families Party and former DCCC Chair David Hogg\u2019s Leaders We Deserve.<\/p>\n

Now that he\u2019s beaten Bains to the general election, the DCCC stands to lose even more respect from voters and lawmakers alike if they don\u2019t back Villegas just as much as \u2014 or even more than \u2014 they supported Bains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really, really hope the DCCC practices what they preach and they consolidate around (Villegas) and work with him to give him the full financial backing he deserves, because he can win this race,\u201d Hogg told Axios.<\/p>\n

\"Leaders Leaders We Deserve founder David Hogg joined forces with Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang Saturday as she campaigns for Congress in California\u2019s 7th District. Corey Schmidt corey.schmidt@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

The DCCC\u2019s refusal to support young progressives in favor of moderates and incumbents is a flaw that will ultimately break the party apart from within. Millennial and Gen Z voters are expected to make up more than half<\/a> the nation\u2019s voting population by 2028 and Gen Z will be the first majority non-white generation<\/a> in American history. Studies show these voters care more about policy over party ideologies, according to Pew Research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Leaders Leaders We Deserve founder David Hogg joined forces with Sacramento City Council member Mai Vang Saturday as she campaigns for Congress in California\u2019s 7th District. Corey Schmidt corey.schmidt@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

The DCCC is beginning to show its age \u2014 not unlike the candidates they support. But if the Democratic Party wants to survive to influence a new generation of voters, then perhaps they\u2019d better listen to us and what we want.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Robin Epley is an opinion writer for The Sacramento Bee, focusing on state and local politics. She was born and raised in Sacramento. In 2018, she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist with the Chico Enterprise-Record for coverage of the Camp Fire.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young, progressive candidates are showing the California Democratic Party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee they don\u2019t need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-359713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}