Senate's Progressive Creep Confirms Centrist Democrat Myth

(Editor's Note: The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement of any political party, or candidate, on the part of Newsmax.) 

The United States Senate is emerging as the next theater of interest for progressives hoping to increase their foothold in America's political landscape.

With the Congressional Progressive Caucus now boasting a membership of 100 Representatives, Senate Democrats are drawing on the leftwing success paved in the U.S. House of Representatives by cultivating the next generation of liberal leaders, whose ideological visions are slowly dismantling the Senate's political tradition of sensible governance and robust debate.

Long regarded as the more refined and composed of the two congressional chambers, the Senate is falling prey to a similar leftist creep that has taken root among Democrats in the U.S. House. While more muted in its approach, the ideological drift portends a troubling picture for our nation.

The cohort of Senators ushered into the chamber in recent years, including Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock , helped bolster a minor but seasoned group of leftists, such as Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass.,  and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., thereby producing a sizable flank of progressives eager to reorient Democrats away from a staid platform of centrist liberalism.

While Republicans are in a strong position to take control of the Senate, current races in states such as Texas, Florida, and Michigan appear to be tightening, and it remains critical that the GOP candidates competing for a seat in the chamber prevail in the upcoming election.

Democratic candidates Colin Allred in Texas and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan represent a radical slate of Senate hopefuls whose frightening rise is attributed to the groundwork set by the preceding faction of left-wing lawmakers.

For her part, U.S. Vice President and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has pushed for reshaping Senate rules to advance policies consistent with her global view but disconnected from the will of the American people.

Last month, Harris affirmed her support for abolishing the Senate filibuster to pass a law that would allow abortions until the end of pregnancy.

During an interview with a Wisconsin radio station, Harris said, "I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do."

Defying her calls for "unity," Harris' policy goal casts aside constructive dialogue by dramatically refashioning Senate rules and, if successful, would grant Democrats the ability to federally legalize abortion through the moment of birth, a position that a majority of Americans oppose.

Still, the vice-president's approach to eliminating the filibuster doesn't address the progressivism surfacing in today’s Senate circles.

With antisemitic attacks spiking nearly 200% in the past year, the Democratically-controlled chamber has repeatedly declined to follow the Republican-led House and investigate the rise in Jew hatred.

Last month, in a begrudging move aimed at placating Republican colleagues, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary agreed to hold a full-day hearing that touched on combating antisemitism.

Yet predictably, Democrats ensured that the day's event stitched together all forms of hate, and the meeting’s scope was broadened to include other forms of bigotry.

The hearing was aptly titled "A Threat to Justice Everywhere: Stemming the Tide of Hate Crimes in America."

The opening statement of Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., clued conservatives to the fact that the chairman of the committee, like most Democrats, retains little appetite for focusing solely on anti-Jewish incidents and prefers instead to sanitize the antisemitic movement’s origin and growth.

In an appalling admission at the outset of the day, Durbin linked various groups under one umbrella of "hate" and said that since the "horrific October 7th Hamas attack in Israel, we have seen an increase in attacks on Jewish Americans, Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, and Muslim Americans."

To their credit, Republican senators were quick to expose their colleagues for the deliberate expansion surrounding the day’s focus, with Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., remarking that we can't talk about antisemitism without attaching it to "15 other things."

Liberal Democrats are shrewd observers who understand that upending the integrity of America's institutions requires patience and political deftness.

The steady chipping away of well-intentioned Democrats once anchoring their party is reflected in the influence of progressive lawmakers like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and the cowardice exhibited by politicians such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. 

Indeed, Schumer’s unwillingness to stem the radicalism in his party confirms the myth of the moderate Democrat. To date, most centrist Democrats are merely weak observers within a party that has its sights on the Senate as the new locus of progressive power.

Irit Tratt is an independent writer residing in New York. She obtained her Master's in International Affairs with a focus on the Mideast from George Washington University. She has worked as a legislative assistant for several members of Congress. She maintains her advocacy work through her involvement with organizations such as The Tikvah Fund, The Republican Jewish Coalition, and The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). She is a steering committee member on the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA). Ms. Tratt has been published in The Jerusalem Post, The American Spectator, The Algemeiner, JNS, and Israel Hayom. Read More of Irit Tratt's Reports — Here.