New Democrats (United States)

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president (1993–2001)
Barack Obama, the 44th president (2009–2017)
The first inauguration of Bill Clinton on 20 January 1993. Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign ushered in the "golden age" of New Democrats, which subsequently gave birth to the name "Clinton Democrat"

New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturally liberal on social issues while being moderate or fiscally conservative on economic issues.[1] New Democrats dominated the party from the late 1980s through the early-2010s,[2] and continue to be a large coalition in the modern Democratic Party.[3]

However, with the rise of progressivism with presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020, higher support for protectionism in the United States,[4] and a general leftward shift of the Democratic Party since the 2010s, the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) challenged the New Democrat Coalition (NDC) for the largest party plurality. As of April 2024, the seat margin between the two caucuses remains a source of contestation because almost thirty members of the NDC (and Blue Dog Coalition) self-signify as both Progressives and New Democrats. In 2020, the CPC tightened membership requirements and updated ideological as well as voting expectations for members. This restructuring diminished, but did not eliminate, the number of representatives who held seats in both caucuses, that is, as both "New Democrats" and "Progressives."[5] With the notable exception of Sara Jacobs, delegates who currently hold seats in both caucuses were all born before 1979, with a supermajority born in, or well before, 1973. They also began their partisan careers on the eve of, or prior to, the presidency of Barack Obama.[6][7][8][9]

Despite expansion of the CPC, even with stricter criteria for "Progressive" representation in Congress, the New Democrats' Progressive Policy Institute (established in 1989) persists into the present day, recently sponsoring "young pragmatists" at the rechristened Center for New Liberalism[10] (formerly known as the Neoliberal Project) to "modernize progressive politics."[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Loewe 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Kane, Paul (January 15, 2014). "Blue Dog Democrats, whittled down in number, are trying to regroup". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014. Four years ago, they were the most influential voting bloc on Capitol Hill, more than 50 House Democrats pulling their liberal colleagues to a more centrist, fiscally conservative vision on issues such as health care and Wall Street reforms.
  3. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (July 26, 2016). "Bill Clinton is still a star, but today's Democrats are dramatically more liberal than his party". Vox. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gerstle2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Grim, Ryan (October 26, 2020). "Congressional Progressives Are Revamping Their Caucus With an Eye Toward 2021". The Intercept.
  6. ^ Steinhauer, Jennifer (October 8, 2012). "Weighing the Effect of an Exit of Centrists". The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  7. ^ Graham, David A. (November 5, 2018). "How Far Have the Democrats Moved to the Left?". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  8. ^ Podkul, Alexander R.; Kamarck, Elaine (September 14, 2018). "What's happening to the Democratic Party?". Brookings Institution. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  9. ^ Marans, Daniel (November 27, 2018). "The Progressive Caucus Has A Chance To Be More Influential Than Ever". The Huffington Post. That would bring the caucus' total to 96 members, or about 40 percent of the House Democratic Caucus ― by far the largest bloc in the party.
  10. ^ "Center for New Liberalism". Center for New Liberalism.
  11. ^ Mortimer, Colin. "RELEASE: Young Neoliberals Link Up With PPI". Progressive Policy Institute.