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DEMOCRATIC DIVISIONS over the future of the party are simmering, as liberals seek new leaders and a path back to power in President Trump’s second term.

The progressive left is having a moment after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s wildly successful “anti-oligarchy” tour wrapped Wednesday night with a 7,000-strong rally in Missoula, Mont.

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez pulled huge numbers in surprising places as they ventured into traditionally red parts of the country, showing there’s a market for the populist left.

Sanders adviser Faiz Shakir said 13 of the 16 stops on the tour were in GOP-held Congressional districts, turning out more than 250,000 people. About one-third of new signees to Sanders’s list are not registered Democrats, Shakir said.

The Hill’s Carolina Vakil crunched the numbers and found that populist Democrats are raking in big bucks, led by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).

Sanders, who is 83, is unlikely to run for president again. But pollster Nate Silver named Ocasio-Cortez, who is 35, as his early favorite to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2028.

Those developments are alarming to centrist Democrats, who view progressives as unelectable in national contests.

“Bernie has run for president twice, he’s lost twice,” Democratic strategist James Carville said on NewsNation’s "CUOMO." “AOC and her kind … they want to run against other Democrats. They don’t want to run against Republicans. When you beat a Republican, come back and see me and I’ll be impressed.”

Carville, a strategist for former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, emerged as a top voice in the media opposing Sanders during the 2020 primaries when it appeared the Vermont senator was on a path to winning the nomination.

It’s not all easy-going for progressives at the moment.

Former Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), the former chair of the House Progressive Caucus, is in an unexpectedly tight special election contest against moderate former City Council member Loren Taylor to be the next mayor of Oakland.

Lee was expected to win handily, but the race is too close to call with the next batch of results coming on Friday.

The special election was called after the former progressive mayor Sheng Thao was recalled from office over voter frustrations with crime, homelessness and quality of life. Thao has since been indicted for bribery and corruption.

POTENTIAL DEM FIELD COMES INTO VIEW

It’s very early, but Democrats are starting to discuss their potential field of presidential candidates.

Actor George Clooney, who played a part in pushing President Biden out of the 2024 campaign, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday he likes Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, calling him a “proper leader.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris still maintains a deep well of support within the party.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) got a bump in polls of a hypothetical Democratic primary field after his record-breaking Senate speech.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) has hit turbulence since the viral photo of her hiding her face during an Oval Office meeting with Trump.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are also seen as having presidential mettle.

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith, a straight-talking outsider, has been teasing a potential run and raising his profile in interviews on national political talk shows.

MEANWHILE...

There's another fight brewing at the district level.

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg made a splash this week when his group announced it........

© The Hill