Forget the recent socialist shift — Democrats are ready for an FDR revival

Appearing on “ Fox News Sunday ,” Megan Romer, co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, was asked and answered whether the DSA supports the following :

Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement — check.

Abolishing U.S. borders and giving illegal aliens amnesty — check.

Eliminating public ownership of most large corporation — check.

Those affirmative answers were a gift to President Trump. Always ready to exploit any Democratic weakness, the president believes he has a winning strategy for 2026: “ All we have to do is define our opponent as being a communist or a socialist or somebody who is going to destroy our country .”

During the Cold War, Americans recoiled at the communist label. Sixty-four percent favored taking repressive measures against the U.S. Communist Party; 67 percent believed communists should be banned from holding civil service jobs; 77 percent said no person could be a “good Christian and at the same time be a member of the Communist Party.”

Taking note of the Republican attacks, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) asks , “Did we accidentally step into a time machine?”

The Democratic Socialists of America is having a moment. Last year, Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City. He used his political clout to back another socialist congressional candidate, Darializa Avila Chevalier, who beat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) in their primary contest. In Colorado, Democrat Diana DeGette fell to socialist challenger Melat Kiros. In Michigan, Democratic Socialists of America member Donavan McKinney ousted incumbent Democrat Shri Thanedar . And in Florida, Angie Nixon, another member, shockingly won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate despite being vastly outspent.

Other left-leaning Democrats have also posted significant wins. Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic senatorial nominee in Michigan. Progressive activist William Lawrence beat two moderate Democrats in a congressional primary.

But the defeat of Democratic Socialists member Francesca Hong in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary proves that even if Democrats are angry, they are not entirely stupid. Canceling Thanksgiving and abolishing the police are deal-breakers.

Democrats realize our democracy is at stake. And pragmatic Democrats want their party to win.

A New York Times/Siena College poll shows 52 percent of Democrats want their party to move to the center. And 50 percent and 46 percent, respectively, favor centrist positions on crime and immigration — two issues Republicans like to call their own.

Listen to Patricia Soto, a Democrat from Pinecrest, Fla. On immigration, she says , “The Democrats need to underscore that this is a nation of laws and regulations that are fair,” while adding, “We do need to address the immigrants that are already here without vindictiveness, without making them all the bad guys, because that’s not true.”

The fact that most Democrats want to occupy the center, however, does not mean they oppose major changes in government. Democrats want an activist government — especially when it comes to insuring health care, providing child care, overhauling the tax system, making millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share, and shoring up Social Security and Medicare.

Advocating a muscular liberalism is not the same as supporting the socialist agenda. Democrats would be wise to remember the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, who told voters in 1932: “The country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

Democrats want their next president to emulate Roosevelt’s approach and focus on them. And the party has taken steps to ensure that their 2028 nominee can win, by rebalancing its nomination calendar. The Democratic National Committee has authorized six states to be the first to cast ballots in the 2028 primary season: South Carolina on Jan. 22; Nevada on Feb. 1; New Hampshire on Feb. 8; New Mexico on Feb. 15; Michigan on Feb. 22; and Virginia on Feb. 29.

Democratic consultant John W. McCarthy notes that in these early primary voting states, there are 4.6 million Blacks; 4.2 million Latinos; 1.4 million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders; 370,000 Native Americans; 14 million non-college voters; 2.8 million young adults between the ages of 18 and 24; 1.1 union workers; and 2.1 million military veterans and military voters.

Former DNC chair Jamie Harrison has some sage advice for any would-be socialist candidate: “If you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination. Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure.”

Harrison’s warning is apt but unnecessary. By 2028, most Americans will be ready to shift their attention to someone other than Trump. And the candidate who disavows the Democratic Socialists of America organization and embraces Roosevelt’s muscular, practical liberalism is the one who will likely prevail.

By rebalancing their party, Democrats can once again reclaim the title Franklin D. Roosevelt used for it: “ The Democracy .”

John Kenneth White is a professor emeritus at the Catholic University of America who writes on Substack . His latest book, coauthored with Matthew R. Kerbel, is titled “ Democracy on the Edge: The Trump Elections and the Future of American Politics.”