Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville warned Thursday that a wave of democratic socialist primary victories could become a serious liability for the party at the national level, singling out a Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate who supports abolishing the police.
Speaking on the «Politics War Room» podcast, Carville said competitive left-wing campaigns in Michigan and Wisconsin risk shaping how voters across the country see the entire Democratic Party. His co-host, Al Hunt, said he did not believe the far left was poised to take over the party, but argued that heavy attention on such candidates could create problems for other Democrats and could complicate what otherwise looks like a strong Democratic year.
«I agree, and the problem with Michigan and Wisconsin is what happens in the Michigan Democratic primary doesn't stay in the Michigan Democratic primary,» Carville said. «What happens in the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor doesn't stay in Wisconsin, and they're going to be tagged as part of the Democratic Party.»
The warning follows a series of left-wing primary results that have drawn national attention. Democratic socialist candidates have won primaries in New York City, Abdul El-Sayed is mounting a competitive bid for the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan, and Francesca Hong is the frontrunner in Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Carville focused much of his criticism on Hong. «The problem we face right now in Wisconsin: This candidate doesn't want to defund the police. She wants to abolish the police,» he said. He called the position «lunacy of the highest level» and predicted it would become a liability for Democrats running in other states.
He argued that if a Republican nominee had proposed abolishing police, Democrats would be fully justified in taking that message nationally and pressing every Republican candidate to answer for it. «Well, they're going to do that to us,» he said. He said a Democrat in a tight race, citing Roy Cooper, Jon Ossoff and Troy Jackson, could be asked: «Your nominee in Wisconsin said this. What do you answer?»
Carville, who has repeatedly predicted big wins for Democrats in the midterm elections, has become increasingly frustrated with the party's left flank. He has gone as far as proposing a split to keep the rising far-left wing from power. On Thursday he asked democratic socialists to stop using the Democratic label. «Why are you dragging our names through the mud? If you don't like it, call yourself something else,» he said. He joked that the word «Democratic» could be used even by authoritarian regimes, pointing to North Korea.
Hunt recalled that after the death of George Floyd in 2020, some Democrats embraced defunding the police, giving Republicans an opportunity to paint the entire party with that agenda. He warned the same dynamic could repeat with the new wave of democratic socialists' far-left ideas.
Carville also warned primary voters that they are not only choosing a nominee. «You're not just voting for a nominee for Senate in Michigan. You're not just voting for a nominee for governor of Wisconsin. You're voting on the image of the entire party,» he said, calling such voting «a vanity vote and nothing more.»
Hong and El-Sayed did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The warning came as Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial race shifted Thursday, with former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes suspending his campaign. Barnes, who served from 2019 to 2023 and was endorsed by Senator Adam Schiff, said it had become clear who the nominee would be but did not name that candidate. He had been considered a frontrunner because of his name recognition and ties to outgoing Governor Tony Evers. The party's nominating contest is later this month.
