‘Definitely Growing!’ CNN Data Guru Breaks Down the Rise of Democratic Socialists After Primaries

CNN’s Harry Enten examined the rise of Democratic Socialists in this primary season a day after one of the progressive candidates soundly defeated a well-known political name in her Florida Senate primary.

Enten looked at the nationwide success of socialists and broke down the numbers Wednesday, the morning after Democratic Socialist Angie Nixon beat retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman by roughly 56% to 44%. Nixon will battle Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) in November.

The data maven shared stats with anchor Sara Sidner showing socialist candidates winning in five different states, but cautioned they’re not yet dominating the Democratic Party:

HARRY ENTEN: Look, Democratic Socialism is no longer just a polling phenomenon. It is in the real world. We are seeing actual candidates winning primaries.

What are we talking about? Well, we’re talking about this. DSA or DSA endorsed congressional candidates currently in Congress. There is just one, two. Now, we’re talking about four times as many, eight candidates, eight candidates who have won 2026 primaries, and seven of those are favorites to win in the fall, win in a general election.

So the Democratic Socialists of America’s ranks in Congress, they are definitely growing, getting larger

SARA SIDNER: All right, so where are these winds happening? Is there a specific area or what do you see in with the numbers?  

ENTEN: Yeah, okay, you might just say, oh, this is just a phenomenon in the Northeast. This is part of the Acela corridor. This is just an urban phenomenon. No, not really. I mean, take a look here.

Where DSA candidates won primaries for Congress, they’re all Democrats. Yeah, you got three in New York, but you got two in Michigan, you got one in Colorado, you’ve got one in Florida last night running for the Senate, and you got in Pennsylvania.

So this is not just a Northeast phenomenon in terms of these DSA candidate who are winning primaries. Yes, they are primarily in urban areas, but they are happening across the map, from the Northeast to the Midwest, to the Mountain West.

And then last night, down in the South, in Florida, so this is happening across the political map, we are seeing these DSA candidates winning in Democratic primaries. As I said, they are becoming a larger part of the Democratic primary, not just in the polling data, but actual people casting their ballots, casting their votes for these DSA candidates.

SIDNER: Give us some idea what the percentages are here of the wins versus the loss because there are more DSA candidates out there it appears.

ENTEN: Yeah, OK. So the thing that I will note is even though the DSA is growing to be a larger part of the Democratic Party, right? They are not the majority of the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party is still primarily non-DSA members. You could see it here. DSA, DSA endorsed congressional candidates, won their primaries. Yes, we have eight, but look at this.

At least 17 have lost their primaries. At least 17, have lost there primaries, so they’re batting about 33%, right? Or a little bit there, which is pretty good for a baseball hitter, right, but not particularly good in terms of actually becoming a majority of the party.

So yes, the DSA is growing, it is becoming a larger phenomenon, but it is not yet one that has taken over the Democratic party. The Democratic party is still full of traditional Democrats, not those who are coming in and trying to implement DSA ideology.

Progressive and Democratic Socialists have racked up election victories this summer, including Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, who defeated Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) for the chance to take on Mike Rogers (R) in November.

In Colorado, socialist Melat Kiros, 29, won her primary over longtime Rep. Diana DeGette, who has been in office since 1997.

And in New York City, socialists trounced their opponents in June primaries, including Claire Valdez, Brad Lander, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, who each won their respective Congressional primaries.

Watch above via CNN.

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