Rep. Greg Casar wishes Democrats to abandon purity tests in primaries and “choose villains” in the GOP.
The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a 35-year-old Texas millennial who assumed control in December, believes his party has become too cautious and dull in its battle against Republicans, losing its working-class character in the process. Meeting privately with other members, he is exploring how to guide the party toward a more populist economic message—being “known as the party of working people, first and foremost,” Casar said. He is also launching a strong public relations effort to support this.
It’s a significant change from the strategy the progressive wing of the Democratic Party had in previous years, when it wrapped itself in slogans like “abolish ICE” and “defund the police,” while seeking ideological purity on a variety of concerns during the 2020 presidential race. It also arrives as Democrats have a serious brand issue; public and private polling as well as focus groups reveal voters think it is weak, too concentrated on diversity and the elites.
Casar stated in a congressional office interview, “First, winning the votes of the vast majority of working people and being known as the party of the everyday person will help us to defend vulnerable people and take on just, but perhaps not yet popular causes.” “I believe that progressives need to make sure that we are connecting our causes to the broadest base of people possible.”
Dems have to “make sure that the central brand speaks to everyone,” Casar said if they are to win again.
According to two individuals familiar with the meetings given anonymity to discuss the private sessions, Casar and Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-Penn.) and Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) have been meeting informally with roughly a dozen Democratic members discussing how best to shift the party into stressing economic populism.
Deluzio remarked, “It’s a group that pulls from all areas of the Democratic Party since there are “plenty of people, who could wear various ideological hats, but are already” concentrating economic populism, “so I want this to be more the glue that ties the Democratic party together.” This week, many members of the group—sometimes known as the “New Economic Patriots,” though Deluzio said there is no official name—spoke on the House floor to promote their thoughts on “strident” economic populism.
Deluzio, who represents a swing district in western Pennsylvania, described Casar as “strategic and smart” on his positioning of progressives.
Deluzio remarked in an interview, “[Casar] knows that there are parts of the caucus that he now leads that are widely popular, and we should be fighting on that terrain.” Not entering circular shooting squads, “we’re doing things to expand the party and serve the people.
Their work occurs in the midst of a progressive wing of the Democratic Party rebirth of sorts. Recent rallies in Nevada, Arizona, and Colorado drew large crowds from two left-wing heroes, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Joining Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez for a rally in Tucson, Casar is also on a media blitz of his own, particularly with conservative-leaning audiences.
Casar said on Fox News last week that “we can agree that Republican members of Congress have no business going along with Elon Musk slashing Social Security” even if they differ with him on social concerns. He’s also supposed to tell constituents in GOP Rep. Chip Roy’s Texas district, where he’s holding a town hall on Saturday, the same thing.
Casar said in his HEADLINESFOREVER interview that Democrats have not been combative enough, particularly in comparison to President Donald Trump. Citing Trump’s comments in his congressional address this month about a high school player hurt by a volleyball spike from a transgender person on the opposing side, he claimed Trump and Republicans had made transgender rights “an animating, top issue” by telling a “story, villainizing an LGBTQ American who played volleyball.”
Casar claimed, “Republican officials have learned how to make the dominant concerns in elections social issues affecting only a small number of people.” After “knocking on hundreds of homes” in Texas, even the most conservative voters “never answered the door and said, ‘Thank God you’re here. Your NCAA [sports] competition calls for a certain amount of testosterone, which I wish to discuss with you.
But Democrats should draw some motivation from it, he said. “Progressives have to assist the Democratic Party in telling a clear, convincing story about Social Security just as Republicans have done with LGBTQ concerns,” Casar stated. Right now, Casar claimed, Democrats will simply “say, ‘I protect Social Security,'” a subject that should be “a killer message” since “90 percent of people agree with you,” but “the voters don’t hear it.”
After California Gov. Gavin Newsom broke with the party on the subject of transgender athletes in female college and youth sports, Casar did not urge Democrats to alter their stance on transgender rights. Instead, he pushed Democrats to charge Republicans with leveraging social concerns to divert attention from economic ones.
Some cultural problems we will face that not everyone will agree on, but what are the fundamental things we agree on? Ending poverty, everyone should have health care, everyone should make a livable income. Mark Longabaugh, a veteran Bernie Sanders presidential campaign manager, remarked, “Instead, we start talking about bathrooms.” “Really, at our foundation, I believe the party has to refocus on what we are.
Like many other Democrats, Casar sees Musk, a divisive character with underwater popularity numbers, as a natural target for that sort of narrative. He’s hammered at Musk at rallies, on television, and on the House floor. During a congressional hearing, he criticized Musk for making $8 million a day from government contracts; a tape of the hearing went viral on X and garnered over 11 million views.
“If we’re willing to say, as Democrats are finally seeming much more willing to say in this building, today, than just even a few weeks ago, the richest people on the planet want to steal your Social Security check in order to enrich themselves and their friends, well, now you’re cooking with gas,” Casar said. Be ready to be fascinating. Be ready to say that—to acquire a voter’s confidence by saying we are ready to really confront the criminals harming them.
Some more moderate Democrats reject the tactic of embracing openly populist rhetoric and use phrases like “Fight Oligarchy.” Demanding economic populism, according to Matt Bennett, co-founder of the center-left group Third Way, “is its own form of purity test.”
Bennett remarked, “Many various economic strategies honouring hard work can attract working class voters; they guarantee everyone has a chance to lead a decent life and they don’t call for ‘fighting the oligarchs.'” “We’re right back in the same boat if that becomes their litmus test.”
The son of Mexican immigrants, Casar began his political career by means of labor mobilization, notably on building sites. Elected to the Austin City Council by 25, he was one of the more progressive members in a deep-blue city opposing encampment prohibitions for homeless people. Backed by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, he won a close Democratic primary in 2022 to represent a district spanning East Austin to San Antonio.
Some progressives saw Casar as part of the “next generation of working class representation,” as Chuck Rocha, a Democratic consultant who worked on Sanders’ presidential campaigns, described it. He claimed Casar “is rooted in the working class” but “doesn’t come off as a college professor in a sweater and horn-rimmed glasses.”
“Rocha said, “If Democrats have to spend all their time talking about why we shouldn’t deport dangerous criminals, if boys should play in girls sports or whatever the social issue of the day Republicans are forcing us to talk about, then we’re not talking about what is driving Americans, which is survival, bringing down costs.” Greg is attempting to reclaim it since we have allowed Donald Trump to take some of our progressive mantle.