Who Speaks For The Parties? Dems and GOP Fight It Out
Left, Right & Center
KCRW
3.9 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 June 2026
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are socialists taking over the Democratic Party? New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a proud Democratic Socialist, won some stunning victories in Congressional primaries. His chosen candidates beat out more mainstream Democrats.
Republicans have their own issues. President Trump met with several GOP senators and things got testy. His decision to target sitting Republicans in recent primaries may be backfiring because, well, those incumbents are still in office for now and have nothing to lose.
Both parties face infighting and an identity crisis. What does this say about our politics?
Producer: Leo Duran
Host: David Greene
Guests:
- Mo Elleithee, executive director at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service - @MoElleithee
- Sarah Isgur, senior editor at The Dispatch - @whignewtons
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Left, Right and Center, everybody. I'm David Green. |
| 0:04.6 | A year ago, it was not the end of a political movement. |
| 0:11.3 | It was the beginning. |
| 0:13.5 | That is the voice of New York City's mayor, Zoran Mamdani, with a lot to celebrate over the past few days. |
| 0:19.7 | His pick of progressive Democrats swept this week's primaries for Congress, beating more moderate and establishment Dems. |
| 0:27.2 | There was a lot of excitement from liberals across the country about these wins, hoping that this could help push the party further to the left. |
| 0:33.6 | But hang on, the Democratic leadership says retaking the House is not going to happen by |
| 0:39.5 | leaning to the left. It's all about targeting vulnerable Republicans in more competitive |
| 0:43.7 | purple districts. To do that means leaning more towards the center. Here's the voice of |
| 0:49.1 | Congressman Pete Aguilar. The mayor in New York doesn't get a vote in the Democratic caucus. |
| 0:53.6 | The members who are elected |
| 0:55.0 | get those votes. And we look forward to working with the members that New York elects |
| 1:01.0 | to serve in the Democratic caucus. But the path to 218 isn't through those districts that the mayor |
| 1:09.7 | endorsed it. The path to 218 and to Democrats getting rid of the chaos and the insanity that we see is through districts like New York 17. |
| 1:18.0 | All right. |
| 1:18.4 | The path to 218 hearing there, that is the magic number of Democrats who do want to take control of the House. |
| 1:23.8 | We're going to look at who is controlling the voice, actually, of both parties right now, |
| 1:28.9 | Republicans and Democrats. We're going to start with the Democrats. And we have Moe Alethe here on the left |
| 1:33.3 | and Sarah Isger on the right. It is great to be with both of you, as always. And Mo, I will start |
| 1:39.1 | with you, are Democratic Socialists taking over your party? |
| 1:43.1 | You know, they might at some point. |
| 1:45.1 | They're not yet. |
... |
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