Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders is pushing more candidates to ditch the Democratic label and run for office as independents as the party tries to recover from 2024’s losses and chart a path forwarf.

The suggestion renews the internal debate playing out within the Democratic Party of how to adjust its policy platform to appeal to voters who are telling pollsters the party does not align with their values or represent their interests.

Sanders has accused the Democratic Party of “abandoning” working class voters and attributed its 2024 election losses to those perceived failures.

Since the election, Sanders has been on a nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour and was recently joined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, another high-profile progressive lawmaker.

He told the New York Times the tour was meant to help push people to run as independents.

“One of the aspects of this tour is to try to rally people to get engaged in the political process and run as independents outside of the Democratic Party,” Sanders said. “There’s a lot of great leadership all over this country at the grass-roots level. We’ve got to bring that forward. And if we do that, we can defeat Trumpism and we can transform the political situation in America.”

Sanders has been an independent since being elected to Congress in the House and is the longest-serving independent senator. He caucuses with Democrats and has used the label when it has worked for him.

He has sought the Democratic presidential nomination two times and was the last candidate to drop out in each race, which has drawn some pushback and resulted in lingering frustration with him.

But there are limitations to turning Sanders’ suggestion for more independent candidates into a reality. In states without open primaries, having a progressive independent on the ticket with candidates from the two major parties could lead to votes getting siphoned from the Democrat. It would allow Republicans to win the race without securing a majority.

“Parties are more than just a label. Everybody sees them as a label, but they are organizing influence, they are a policy-driving influence,” said Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University. “If he doesn’t like the way the Democratic Party is being run, then he needs to work within the party to get it to run better, or to get it to run in a way that he likes.

“… the rest of the country does not have open primaries, and therefore for this to happen, he would tank the Democratic ticket on such an enormous scale that it would take a generation to come back again.”

His comments also come at a time of deep internal debate within the party on how to move forward after Republicans won a sweep of the Senate, House and White House in November.

Democrats are facing blowback from their base that don’t think they are doing enough to stand up to the Trump administration. Their approval ratings are sinking with the public.

Finding a message that resonates with voters from their own party and among independents who ultimately decide national elections and races in swing states has also been a challenge for Democrats.

“People are just really sick of politicians who are ‘haircuts in suits’ who are pandering to them or who ignore them full-stop,” Dagnes said. “Bernie Sanders does not ignore voters in Vermont, but Vermont is not Iowa, Vermont is not Alabama. It’s not just the partisan thing, it’s also what kind of authenticity it is that they’re going to enjoy.”

Several polls have found the party’s favorability rating at record lows, including a recent CNN poll that showed overall approval of 29%.

More than half of its voters said its leaders are moving the party in the wrong direction.

The schism has been on display throughout President Donald Trump’s return to office as the party has struggled to come together on a comprehensive message to rebut a flurry of executive orders and other moves.

In the minority in Congress, Democrats have no legislative power to shape policy outside of withholding support for must-pass legislation.

The most recent example was over whether Democrats should vote to pass a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on the receiving end of blistering criticism for his vote to avoid a shutdown.

There have been questions about whether Schumer should step down from leadership and put a fresh spotlight on whether the party’s leaders are best representing its interests moving forward.

The progressive wing of the party was outspoken in the push to vote against the shutdown stopgap and has pushed it to move to the left instead of the center like some others have called for after the GOP’s wins in November.

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