Without a clear party leader after losses up and down the ballot in 2024, progressive Democrats are wading into next year's most competitive Senate primaries and exposing deep ideological rifts that some strategists warn could alienate swing voters ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Republicans have celebrated progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett's decision to launch a Senate campaign in Texas. While President Donald Trump has dismissed her as "low IQ," Crockett has built a national audience, amassing millions of social media followers and the name recognition to instantly reshape the race.
"The Democratic Party, they're in shambles everywhere around the country - and no place more obvious than Texas," National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital. "Jasmine getting in this race is great news."
For Republicans, Crockett's rise supports their argument that Democrats are veering too far left to compete in red and purple states. Her campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's comment request.
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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is defending his seat, agreed, telling Fox News Digital, "She can't win, so I'm really happy she's decided to run."
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And while Republicans breathe a sigh of relief, as Texas could be a pick-up opportunity for the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in 2026, some moderate Democrats are not convinced that a progressive candidate like Crockett will benefit the party in the long run.
Liam Kerr, a Democratic strategist and co-founder of the centrist group Welcome, published an October report titled, "Deciding to Win," warning that Democrats risk alienating voters by embracing far-left positions.
"Any Democrat who can do math should be worried," Kerr told Fox News Digital, arguing that "it's not just losing this race."
"It's also damaging the overall party brand, hurting candidates down-ballot, and losing the muscles you build that focus on persuading voters," he said.
Crockett has gone viral for her public missteps and gaffes, from calling Gov. Greg Abbott, "Governor Hot Wheels," to referring to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as a "bleach blonde bad built butch body," during a House Oversight Committee hearing.
"When you explicitly say we don't need Trump voters to win, you're not only denying mass, you're denying an opportunity for voters to consider Democrats for other races and in the future," Kerr said.
Kerr added that "centrists need to be off the sidelines with the same energy that the left is bringing to these fights."
"Republicans have developed a very clear framework for voters to view Democrats as elite, out-of-touch, and extreme," Kerr explained. "Every time a high-profile Democrat says something out of touch or extreme, it just adds credence to that, and it's like the swing voter is permanently on a jury, where Republicans have a strong prosecutor and Democrats have terrible witnesses, and you just keep giving more pieces of evidence that you're guilty of extremism."
And Republicans who spoke to Fox News Digital this week seemed to be following that very playbook.
"All across the country, what we're seeing is Jasmine is being repeated, replicated all across the country," Scott said. "Socialism is in vogue in the Democrat Party. It is a sad day around the country for those who believe that the Democrat Party was going to have a comeback. They're not coming back. We're going to win, keep the majority, expand the majority all across the map."
Yet, the Democratic Party has claimed to be on the "offense" following gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey this year and after losing a ruby red Tennessee district by nine points in December's special election.
But Scott, who is the Republican spearheading efforts to maintain the Senate majority, said the buck doesn't stop at Crockett.
"The Democrats, you look at who's in their primaries - cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," Scott said. "Michigan, a devastating manifestation. Three Democrats fighting tooth and nail to lose to Mike Rogers."
Michigan's Democratic Senate candidates include rising progressive star state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, Sen. Bernie Sanders-aligned Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens, who recently filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Cornyn said progressive candidates jumping into these Senate Democratic primaries prove the "Democratic Party has become the captive of the left wing," pointing to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's successful socialist campaign.
"Even people like Chuck Schumer have been hijacked by the Bernie Sanders and AOC wing of the Democratic Party," Cornyn said, referring to progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment regarding the implication that he is losing control of Senate Democrats.
Cornyn, who served as NRSC chair for two terms, said that groups like the DSCC are losing power as candidates can find national recognition and build their own coalition without the support of the organized political parties.
"The organized political parties have lost power because of the advent of Super PACs and all these various ways that people, even without political party support, can basically win these contested primaries, and together with those small turnout in the primaries and usually the most rabid activists, they elect people who are ultimately, and I hope, unelectable," Cornyn said.
And Kerr told Fox News Digital that the DSCC "has a very strong track record, but the political industry is moving away from parties being in control."
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"The formal party has less and less power every year that goes by. And individual candidates who are able to fundraise and communicate directly to hardcore Democrats are gaining more and more power relative to the party," Kerr said, arguing that the DSCC's "ability to slow or stop these candidates is diminishing over time."
When reached for comment, the DSCC pushed back on criticism that the Senate Democrats' campaign arm is losing control.
"The DSCC has one goal: to win a Democratic Senate majority," DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle told Fox News Digital. "We've created a path to do that this cycle by recruiting formidable candidates and expanding the map, building strong general election infrastructure, and disqualifying Republican opponents - those are the strategies that led Senate Democrats to overperform in the last four election cycles, and it's how we will flip the majority in 2026."
While Republicans are seizing on the messy Democratic primaries and accusing far-left candidates of running the party, Democratic commentator Kaivan Shroff, a Hillary Clinton campaign alum, told Fox News Digital that primaries can actually be a good thing, and as "a qualified rising star in the party whose seat was redistricted," Crockett deserves an opportunity to run.
But Shroff cautioned that it "cannot be a vicious, divisive primary where everything you don't like about the other candidate is a conspiracy or everything is blamed on the establishment."
The Democratic commentator applauded Texas state Rep. James Talarico for quickly affirming his commitment to treating Crockett "with the utmost respect" in the primary process.
"I think there's a great case that it's a net positive, even win or lose, that Crockett is in this race," Shroff said, particularly if the two candidates can debate on policy differences instead of just bashing Trump.
While traditional party structures seem less influential as candidates can build their own brand and coalition, Shroff said the party is lacking clear leadership to steer candidates through such ideological crossroads.
"We saw Nancy Pelosi be a really unique expert at that, and just how she handled the Squad when they first came on, AOC and that evolution was so unique. I don't know that we have a leader in the party that's able to show that sort of leadership at this time," Shroff said.
