Cancel Thanksgiving? Democrats’ lurch to the left risks an epic backfiring

August 6, 2026 — 9:53am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

On Monday, congresswoman Haley Stevens held an event at a brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on her final night of campaigning to become the state’s Democratic candidate for the US Senate.

That same evening, Pux Cider Taphouse issued an apology on Instagram. It said it thought the function was associated with Democratic Party women, not Stevens.

“We are heartbroken as we pride ourselves on being not only a queer friendly space, but have also advocated and continue to call for a free Palestine,” the venue said. “We do NOT endorse Haley Stevens … In the future we will be more vigilant.”

Grand Rapids is hardly Brooklyn or San Francisco in its politics. But Democrats there comfortably preferred Abdul El-Sayed, the insurgent left-winger, to Stevens, the establishment moderate. They helped him become the first Muslim to be endorsed by the Democratic Party for the US Senate.

The progressive wing of the Democrats has been growing for years, most notably in New York with congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and mayor Zohran Mamdani. But now, its candidates are winning in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Some are avowed democratic socialists, and it is shaping up to be........

© WA Today