Tuesday saw primary races in many states. Most primary races (unlike the few ‘jungle’ primaries in states like California) are within parties to see who gets to be the party’s nominee in the general election and hence they are better seen as indicators of the relative strengths of the competing factions within the parties.

And yesterday’s results showed promising results for progressives in the Democratic party.

Bernie Sanders and his progressive allies are on a hot streak.

The Vermont senator’s endorsed candidates cleaned house on Tuesday, a coast-to-coast show of force headlined by a resounding win for his embattled Senate pick in Maine, Graham Platner, in spite of days of turmoil that had thrown his candidacy into question.

It wasn’t just Platner. Hours before his victory was called, Sanders-backed Randy Villegas advanced to a runoff ahead of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s endorsed candidate, as he fights to face Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) in a swingy Central Valley seat. Other Sanders-backed victors for House seats in recent weeks include Adam Hamawy and Analilia Mejia in New Jersey, Sam Forstag in Montana, Brian Poindexter in Ohio and Bob Brooks in a key Pennsylvania swing district.
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“Progressives are on the march,” Sanders declared last week in a statement lauding his slate of “candidates willing to stand up for working people [who] are taking on the establishment and WINNING.” On Tuesday, he commended Platner’s “landslide victory.”

The senator’s support has been instrumental in powering unknown candidates to major wins this cycle, a demonstration of just how much political influence the 84-year-old progressive leader still commands.

There have been other signs of progressive advances.

Sanders’ picks aren’t the only progressives riding the wave. Tuesday’s results built on momentum that had been growing this cycle, as progressive candidates have notched wins across several states. In Philadelphia, staunch progressive Chris Rabb won a hotly contested primary in what was the nation’s bluest House district in 2024. And in Los Angeles, progressive darling Nithya Raman secured a mayoral runoff spot against incumbent Karen Bass, defeating Republican Spencer Pratt to give the left another high-profile boost.

Mai Vang, a Justice Democrats-backed Sacramento city council member, also pulled ahead Tuesday in California’s House nonpartisan primary, setting up a November matchup against 81-year-old Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui.

There are more races to come.

Sanders-backed Abdul El-Sayed secured the coveted endorsement from the United Auto Workers last week as he battles Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in the Michigan Democratic Senate primary. And Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who has Sanders’ support in that state’s Senate primary, is pushing out polling showing her with a lead over the establishment-backed Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.

The wins by progressives in the primaries will pose a problem for the party establishment. On the one hand, they would like Democratic candidates to win in the general election so that the party can secure majorities in both houses of congress and thus gain control of key committees that can push forward their agenda and thwart the worst excesses of the Trump regime. But on the other hand, they are fearful of the increasing strength of the progressive movement that threatens their grip on the party. Losses by progressives in the general election would give them ammunition to argue that the party needs to nominate ‘centrist’ candidates (i.e., those who are largely satisfied with the status quo) in order to win elections.

We will have to see whether the party leaderships throws its wholehearted support behind the progressives to help them win or whether they are lukewarm and sit on their hands, even if that leads to defeats. The very fact that I am not sure which way they will go shows how compromised the party is.