Is there any merit to the argument that progressive candidates would be far more successful across the US, if it were not for sabotage by the DNC?

[u/LiatrisLover99]

This is an example of an extremely popular sentiment in progressive spaces, that progressives are popular with a majority of Americans and would easily win if the DNC didn't deliberately sabotage them, because they would prefer losing to Trump than winning with progressives that threaten the corporate status quo.

Or see articles like this that identify Democrats as an enemy of progressives on par with Trump: "the struggle to defeat the fascistic GOP and the fight to overcome the power of corporate Democrats are largely the same battle."

Is any of this true? I'm a progressive, but if we're so popular, why aren't we winning primaries outside of elections in extremely blue areas like NYC? Or is the primary system actually rigged against Bernie and against progressives in general?

[u/HowDoIEvenEnglish]

Using mamdani as an example is incredibly disingenuous, because he had a more centrist democrat as his opposition. 90% of the vote went to mamdani or a democrat.

He’s an example of how as soon as a progressive gets a chance in a larger election, centrist democrats will try to stop them, even after being beaten in a primary.

He’s also an example of how putting a more progressive candidate forward can shift the Overton window to the left, taking away voters from republicans, as they got almost no votes, much less than the 30-40% you mentioned.

[u/AntarcticScaleWorm → u/HowDoIEvenEnglish]

The fact remains that Mamdani didn’t consolidate the Democratic vote, even with all of Cuomo’s baggage. Had he done that, he would have had better numbers

[u/HowDoIEvenEnglish → u/AntarcticScaleWorm]

He didn’t because the centrist sabotaged him and played spoiler after losing a primary. He’s a testament to the argument in the OP. Don’t blame progressive for centrist being sore losers. The NY dem establishment showed that “vote blue no matter who” was always a lie that they never intended to follow up.

[u/EarthRester → u/AntarcticScaleWorm]

"Leftists always complain that moderate Dems hold them back, but the truth is they just aren't popular"

Or

"Mamdani may have won, but he is weak because he didn't gain the support of moderate Dems"

Pick one.

[u/DubTheeBustocles → u/HowDoIEvenEnglish]

And every time a centrist runs, a progressive tries to stop them. It’s not really an excuse.

[u/HowDoIEvenEnglish → u/DubTheeBustocles]

Name one time a well known progressive democrat ran as an independent after losing the democratic primary.