Donna Brazile Is Latest Prominent Democrat To Sound The Alarm Over Party’s ‘Socialist Wave’

A steady stream of establishment Democrats continue to speak out against an uprising of far-left extremists running for, and often winning, competitive primary elections against more moderate members of the party.

Most recently, longtime Democrat Party operative Donna Brazile set her sights on the “socialist wave,” which she cast as a fledgling movement unlikely to capture the broader party.

Here’s a relevant portion of the transcript, via Breitbart:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Donna, we’ve seen these insurgents from the Democratic socialists of America making a lot of headway in House primaries. El-Sayed in Michigan is not formally a socialist, but he’s from the progressive wing. How much is that going to hurt Democrats in the fall?

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BRAZILE: Well, first of all, George, when you look at the DSA, which is not the Democratic Party, so I had to go online to figure it out. They ran 29 candidates. They’ve lost 11. They’ve won seven. And there’s still an opportunity for them if they play their cards right, maybe to pick up three or four more seats.

The problem right now, George, is that the Democratic Party must define itself and make sure that we don’t get caught in this socialist wave, which is, you know, popping up here, there and everywhere. But I think Michigan is going to tell us a lot about this current electorate. We know they’re angry, they want change. And both candidates are trying not to allow the labels to define them.

Miss Stevens said I’m not a moderate, I’m a populist. Mr. Abdul said I’m not a progressive, I’m a populist. They want to capture this anger and they want to see if they can ride it to the polls.

The race is attracting attention nationwide:

Michigan Democrats are divided over the future of the party as progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed and establishment-backed Rep. Haley Stevens battle for the Democratic Senate nomination.

El-Sayed, endorsed by Bernie Sanders and other progressive leaders, is campaigning on… pic.twitter.com/r28cQ0qv76

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 3, 2026

Michigan Democrat Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, at a rally for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed:

“Abdul is as American as any other name in this country. It’s one of the strongest American names you can have.” pic.twitter.com/BQdNTHK8qV

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 1, 2026

Michigan Senate candidate Haley Stevens commits to supporting her opponent Abdul El-Sayed — who wants to defund the police and campaigns with Hasan Piker — if he wins the primary:

"You bet…I am on the team, alright. And I am gonna link arms and do whatever’s needed.” pic.twitter.com/ItNw84TIfN

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 1, 2026

Newsmax added these details:

Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has surged into a double-digit lead over Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., in the Democratic Senate primary.

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An Emerson College Polling/WLNS/WOODTV survey of 700 likely primary voters conducted July 26-27 showed him ahead 54% to 39%, with a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Here’s a clip of Brazile’s remarks: