OPINION: Joe Biden Owes His Victory to the Left, No Matter What the Democratic Party Says

IN THE after­math of the 2020 elec­tions, Demo­c­ra­t­ic offi­cials have sparred over who’s respon­si­ble for the party’s unex­pect­ed loss­es in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Mod­er­ates (or ​“cor­po­rate Democ­rats” as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I‑Vt.) has dubbed them) claim that calls to defund the police, end frack­ing and ensure Medicare for All spooked mod­er­ate vot­ers and helped tip oth­er­wise com­pet­i­tive con­gres­sion­al races.

Mean­while pro­gres­sives point to their more con­ser­v­a­tive coun­ter­parts’ refusal to embrace pop­u­lar poli­cies that increase vot­er turnout and sub­stan­tive­ly address insti­tu­tion­al racism or invest in strate­gies like dig­i­tal adver­tis­ing and orga­niz­ing.

Over the past week, In These Times spoke to nine orga­ni­za­tions from Ari­zona to Geor­gia to Penn­syl­va­nia, each of which played a major role in turn­ing key coun­ties and states blue. Togeth­er, these groups showed how Black and brown com­mu­ni­ties increas­ing­ly ignored by the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty in favor of white sub­ur­ban­ites can defeat Trump­ism by swing­ing entire states. Although the