NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Democratic political advisor, Faiz Shakir, about the party's political platform after the wins of this week's primaries.

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Let's talk more about the state of the Democratic Party with Faiz Shakir. He's the executive director of the nonprofit news outlet More Perfect Union and chief political adviser to independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Good morning, and welcome back to the program.

FAIZ SHAKIR: Thank you, Leila. Good morning.

FADEL: So when you look at this week's results out of Michigan, out of Wisconsin, as - where - we heard they were kind of evenly split when people were picking between progressives and establishment candidates. What are your takeaways about what voters want from this party?

SHAKIR: Well, in addition to electability, which there's always a lot of discussion about in the Democratic Party, there's also a desire in this moment to say, from voters, that our democracy is not for sale - that we need people and candidates willing to stand for an agenda, if they're going to win, that transforms our government and does things boldly that we haven't done before.

Obviously, taxation of the rich, particularly at a time when the oligarchy is ruling AI in aggressive ways, has been a major issue. The influence of AIPAC and its inordinate influence in the Iran war and the bad decisions to spend money to Israel when we have much-needed problems here at home has also been an issue. And I would say there's also the issue around progressive agendas of saying, at a time of massive wealth and income inequality, we need public services to function excellently.

FADEL: Well, let me ask you...

SHAKIR: We need good public education and all kinds of other major public health insurance, like Medicare, in this country.

FADEL: Let me ask you about that. Those were messages that we heard from candidates like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, like Hong in Wisconsin. Abdul El-Sayed only won by a percentage point. So now that he's going to be running in a swing state, will his messaging appeal to the wider state - centrists, Democrats that didn't necessarily like what he was selling...

SHAKIR: Well, first...

FADEL: ...Republicans who are willing to give maybe a Democrat a chance?

SHAKIR: In my view, there are so many Republicans upset about corruption in our government right now, and they are looking for alternatives. If you look at Zohran Mamdani's success in New York City, it is growing and broadening his coalition. I think there's a desire and a willingness seen in polling to - for people to say, If you've got belief in government integrity, of changing the way government works, I am for it. And so they're looking to see, with Abdul, with Peggy Flanagan, can your ideas of taking on corporate monopolies, expanding healthcare - can you also bring that together with people who might disagree, be willing to go and make persuasive cases?

And I think for each of them, they can and will do it. But it is a - an incumbent responsibility on progressives, who often are fighting uphill against big-moneyed interests, to get their messages out and to tell people, here's the path and the vision that will take a bit of time to get to but is worth investing in. And I know - in this moment, I don't think the Democratic strategy should be to play dead. It should be to reform this party, to make it broader and win more people because I think there's a possibility to remake a political coalition in America.

FADEL: We've heard from Democratic strategists in recent weeks that New - Zohran Mamdani and New York are not the rest of America. They are not Michigan. They are not Wisconsin. They are not Minnesota. Right before the primary in Michigan last week, we had longtime Democratic strategist Paul Begala on the program. And he had these choice words for democratic socialist candidates.

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PAUL BEGALA: I'm very worried about those extremists tainting my party's brand.

FADEL: And we've heard that expressed by other establishment Democrats - that they worry that come November, these types of candidates will lose swing states. What do you say to that?

SHAKIR: When you look at the voter turnout right now there is no doubt that what we're talking about - this debate within the party - is engineering mass attention and mass turnout. In Minnesota, 1 - over 1.1 million people voted. That's a record turnout in a primary. In Michigan, you were talking about - that was a record turnout in Michigan. In New York City, we had the most people vote in a mayor's election since 1969 there. Across the board - we can go one by one by one - massive numbers of people are turning out.

So my message to many people in the party is - while you may not always agree with the progressive agenda, I think - I hope you will see and understand that what we are generating is a lot more interest in turnout. If we learned anything from 2024, it was that a lot of people stayed home during that presidential election. Harris lost in part because there were too many people who voted for Biden and either moved or are young people who stayed home. That is changing right now, and it is changing in part because we're having a dynamic primary. And we should allow democracy to take place.

I worry a lot about the influence of big money. A lot of our progressive candidates are outspent 5 to 1, 10 to 1. It's very tough to win in those scenarios. Now that they've emerged out of the primary, we should respect democracy, respect the will of the voters, all unify. And I'm proud to say there is a lot of unification actually happening right now, and it should serve us well because the voters are fired up.

FADEL: We've also heard a lot of strategists say these - that these progressives and self-described democratic socialist candidates need to actually moderate their messaging in November - that they're uniting behind these candidates, but they need to think about how to appeal to more centrist Democrats, independents, voters who may have chosen Republicans but also go to Democrats at times. What do you - do you agree with that?

SHAKIR: Well, it's a case-by-case basis as to what we're talking about. Abdul El-Sayed is a doctor. He understands healthcare. He should and can go to so many people, talking not only about expansions of healthcare. But for those who voted for Make America Healthy Again, a MAHA agenda, who do you believe or trust more knows about the issues not only of healthcare but willingness to take on big chemical companies that are polluting our waters and our air, making us sicker, knows something about vaccines? That's Abdul El-Sayed.

So I think you can trust that in Abdul is somebody who can expand and talk to independents and moderates and centrists and conservatives and Trump Republicans about this issue and win support in Michigan. I'm very bullish about not only his ability to do that but also engineer young people turning out in massive ways who are going to be back on campuses here shortly.

So in each progressive candidate's case, they will need to think about the things that they campaigned on. Not walk away from, but think about - how do you talk to people who might not already agree with you? And in my view, a lot of these issues of taxation of the wealth, getting big money out of politics, expanding healthcare - they're very popular across the board. These are 60%, 70%, 80% issues. So you just have to think about - how are you best talking to those with whom you disagree?

FADEL: Is there a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party going on right now in these electoral battles between its...

SHAKIR: Well...

FADEL: ...Left flank and the establishment?

SHAKIR: Leila, when somebody spends $70 million in a Democratic primary to attack you, there is a war going on. Now that - thankfully, I think that war has ended. We've been outspent. And all I can say is, with the will of the voters, who are fired up, we should unify. And we can defeat the Republicans in a massive way, win back the House and the Senate and start to reorder the Democratic Party's priorities around an agenda that works for working people.

FADEL: Faiz Shakir is co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit newsroom More Perfect Union and chief political adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders. Faiz, thank you again for joining us.

SHAKIR: Thank you.

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