By admin 
Sen. Bernie Sanders had just announced his intent to unseat a sitting House Democrat — this time, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus from North Carolina — when Rep. Hakeem Jeffries decided it was time to confront Sanders himself.
Read more Mamdani says he’s still looking into arresting Netanyahu if Israeli leader visits New York
The House Democratic leader warned Sanders against meddling in House primaries, particularly one involving a Black Democrat, in such a critical midterm election year, according to three Democrats familiar with the conversation.
“He seemed to not care,” Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, a Jeffries ally who was also on the call, said of Sanders, recalling the previously unreported phone call. The intervention from those powerful Washington Democrats came just before incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee edged out her challenger, Nida Allam, in the March primary.
Asked recently to describe the conversation, Jeffries would say only: “It was honest.”
Heading into the midterms, Sanders has perhaps never been more powerful in Democratic politics. But the Vermont independent is now at the center of a brewing party civil war that could sway the fate of key midterm seats with control of Congress on the line.
At the heart of the debate: whether to nominate candidates more friendly to the party establishment and seen as wooing swing voters, or to pick democratic socialists or further-left progressives who can energize a restive party base but who risk alienating independents.
Just this election cycle, Sanders has endorsed more than 90 candidates, helping defeat House incumbents in New York City and Colorado. Of the 60 candidates who have had their elections already, 42 have won their races, including 10 out of 16 federal candidates, according to his team. But in Washington, senior Democrats argue Sanders is forcing them to divert precious cash to primaries, instead of spending to fight the GOP in November.
Sanders and his political operation are under new scrutiny over his backing of the now-disgraced former candidate Graham Platner in Maine’s Senate race. Even after The New York Times reported on allegations of Platner’s unsettling behavior toward women, Sanders stood by Platner, saying, “There are no saints in the United States Senate.”
It wasn’t until CNN and Politico reported that Platner was accused of rape — an allegation he denies — that Sanders pulled his endorsement.
“Bernie has endorsed some flawed candidates recently,” Democratic Rep. Hillary Scholten of Michigan said. “I think it’s really important to look at the judgment that has been exercised. The Graham Platner situation should be a huge warning sign to a lot of voters about what that stamp of approval might mean.”
The clash between Sanders and the party establishment is coming to a head in the critical battleground state of Michigan, where he’s rallying this weekend. Sanders is campaigning with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and a House candidate, William Lawrence, whom Congressional Black Caucus members are pushing to defeat after he derided Black political leaders in 2024 comments.
Sanders was unapologetic when asked whether he’s making it harder for Democrats to win in November.
“No,” the 84-year-old said. “I think, in fact, the candidates we are supporting are candidates who are representing working people. And I think it’s time, longtime overdue, for the Democratic Party to stop worrying about their wealthy campaign funders and start worrying about the needs of working people.”
All roads lead to Michigan
Michigan is at the heart of the Democrats’ identity crisis.
In the Senate, Sanders has backed El-Sayed, whose pursuit of “Medicare for All” and criticisms of Israel and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee have made him a darling of the progressive left.
The party establishment is coalescing behind Rep. Haley Stevens, a more moderate Democrat from the Detroit area who is pitching herself as the most electable against the likely GOP nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers.
With the race seen as neck and neck ahead of the August 4 primary, Democrats in Washington and Michigan are particularly nervous about El-Sayed. One of those people is retiring Sen. Gary Peters, who holds the seat: Peters was expected to stay neutral in the race, but decided last week to endorse Stevens, one person familiar with the discussions told CNN.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has made no secret about his preference for Stevens to win the primary, demurred when asked by CNN whether he had any issue with Sanders stumping for El-Sayed.
“Democrats have always come up with candidates that fit their states,” Schumer said. “We will do that in Michigan, we will beat the Republican, and we will take back the Senate.”
Sanders and the progressive wing, however, insist that El-Sayed improves the party’s chances of winning the seat among a voting base that’s retreating from establishment Democratic politics. And Sanders’ allies argue he can energize longtime Democrats and new voters alike.
“I mean, there’s the pope, then there’s Obama, then there’s Bernie,” said progressive Rep. Ro Khanna of California.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, long close to Sanders, has become a liberal kingmaker in her own right, although she didn’t endorse Platner. She insists El-Sayed is a “profoundly strong candidate.”
“I don’t think people have really made the forceful case outside of his identity, to be honest with you, and I don’t accept that,” Ocasio-Cortez said. Asked whether she meant El-Sayed’s Muslim identity, the progressive congresswoman said emphatically: “Yeah.”
“Keep it to the issues if we want to say what specifically it is,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “But I don’t ascribe to the idea that a Muslim can’t win, that a woman can’t win, that a White person can’t win. I don’t ascribe to these ideas.”
But Sanders’ critics say he is trying to shift the party in a direction that most voters will reject outside of the very liberal districts where members of the Democratic Socialists of America have won primaries.
“The DSA, which Bernie’s part of, is trying to hijack the Democratic Party, and what you’re seeing is people don’t want that,” said Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a centrist and pro-Israel Democrat from New Jersey. “The Democratic Party wants to be the Democratic Party, and he’s trying to use the Democratic Party as a vessel for socialism, and people don’t want socialism.”
A critical House race with sharp divisions on display
Down the ballot in Michigan, party leaders are increasingly anxious that Lawrence is surging in a three-way primary for a Lansing-area seat/ They worry the Sanders-backed candidate could cost them a must-win seat held by a swing-district Republican, Rep. Tom Barrett.
The 35-year-old democratic socialist and climate activist is under fire from senior Black Democrats, including Jeffries and Meeks, for remarks published last week by The Huffington Post in which he said Black political leaders “defang the White left.”
Lawrence, in an interview Friday with CNN, apologized for the remarks, which his allies argued are misrepresentations of a longer discussion of racial justice with a Black activist.
“I understand why people would be concerned to read that article because it doesn’t reflect who I am and my values. I spoke poorly and I regret the way that I made my point,” Lawrence told CNN. He said he particularly regrets his use of the phrase the “White left,” which he said “misrepresents my values and commitments.”
Still, the blowback has been swift. Jeffries called the comments “deeply disturbing.” The Congressional Black Caucus’ political arm is funding ads against him. And Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin — who typically stays neutral in her state’s primaries — recently weighed in on behalf of one of his competitors, former Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam, for her old House seat. (Lawrence has called Slotkin, a former CIA officer, a “warmonger,” but said he still backed her in 2024.)
Lawrence is scheduled to join one of Sunday’s stops with Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and El-Sayed. Ocasio-Cortez declined to comment when asked whether she felt comfortable campaigning with Lawrence.
“I haven’t endorsed in it. I haven’t waded into it at all. So I don’t have a comment,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Meeks, in an interview with CNN, called on Sanders to pull his support.
“Mr. Sanders needs to speak up,” Meeks said after the comments surfaced. Days later, when Sanders issued no statement and continued to promote a rally with Lawrence, Meeks didn’t hold back his anger.
“We’re gonna beat them. We’re going to win the election, and I think African Americans are going to turn out just for that,” Meeks told CNN. He said he saw Lawrence’s remarks as criticism specifically aimed at the black caucus, which includes longtime lawmakers active in fighting for civil rights.
“You think that you’re going to disparage us? That doesn’t work,” he said.
One Sanders ally, in response, told CNN that the Vermont independent is supporting “many Black progressive candidates” across the country this year, adding: “Instead of constantly attacking progressive candidates, I don’t understand why the Black Caucus hasn’t joined him in supporting great candidates like Justin Pearson in Tennessee and Donavan McKinney in Michigan.” (Pearson is running for an open seat redrawn for Republican advantage and McKinney is challenging incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar.)
Lawrence, for his part, has reached out for a conversation with Congressional Black Caucus leaders, but the lawmakers declined and said they would speak to him after the primary, according to a person familiar with the exchange.
“I have tremendous respect for Reps. Jeffries and Meeks, and look forward to introducing myself personally and building trust,” Lawrence said.
Read more Iceberg lettuce recalled in 27 states due to potential cyclospora contamination
CNN’s Logan Schiciano and Casey Riddle contributed to this report.