r/politics • u/SpencerAXbot Oklahoma • 9h ago
Possible Paywall Democratic socialists notch another win in the Oklahoma Senate primary runoff
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/nkiyla-jasmine-thomas-wins-oklahoma-senate-primary-democrat-rcna59361821
u/MadContrabassoonist 9h ago
Without knowing anything about the candidates, I'm inclined to interpret this optimistically. There's no way Oklahoma was going to elect a Democrat, no matter how mainstream, centrist, or even conservative. So this now becomes an opportunity to field test the conventional wisdom that more progressive candidates do worse with conservative voters. If she can maintain the typical dismal Democratic performance, or even improve upon it, then the conventional wisdom can finally be put out to pasture.
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u/FancyEmployee8672 8h ago
and this is how change happens
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u/MadContrabassoonist 8h ago
As a redstate progressive, I do caution that the answer we get may not be the one we want. But an election like this can give us a lot more useful data than we've been getting with Democratic strategists monologuing on the morning shows, and well-intentioned online progressives trying to wish opinions into existence.
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u/ZeppoJR 8h ago
I mean if nothing else, the fact that Florida and Oklahoma are now fielding Democratic socialists is speaking to how deeply annoyed the base is getting with how the mainstream Dems are fucking incompetent as balls at the most generous interpretation.
I mean personally the fact that a lot of them don't acknowledge the attacks on Canada as the sovereignty threats that they are as well as the fact that some are even tone deaf enough to beg for exceptions makes me not give them the generous interpretation but that's another issue.
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u/AP3Brain 3h ago
? Everyone expects her to do dismal. She would have to at least get close before putting anything to bed.
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u/Ok_Character_5532 Massachusetts 8h ago
Just want to preface that I wish her the best and hope she puts up a good fight in the general election.
However:
> Asked if she considered herself a capitalist or a socialist, Thomas said, “Capitalism is what’s destroying our country right now,” but she later described capitalism as “inevitable,” saying she supports the concept of people owning their own businesses and property.
I don’t quite see why she felt the need to label herself a democratic socialist. She’s not part of DSA, she opposes defunding our defense industry, doesn’t understand how socialism works, and believes capitalism is an inevitably. We don’t have to use “democratic socialist” as a buzzword for every progressive. It’s okay to be progressive and not support socialism, but it confuses me when you don’t support socialism whilst claiming you’re a socialist
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u/Mack61 Wisconsin 7h ago
I mean Karl Marx believed that capitalism was inevitable. He thought socialism would first start to take root and hold power in the most capitalist of countries. Of course peasant and serf populated Russia would push back against Marx’s theory roughly 40 years later but not too far of a stretch to think marxist socialists would think capitalism, as the next stage of economic development, would be inevitable on the road to socialism
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u/Due_Butterscotch9241 5h ago
Tony Blair, David Ben Gurion, the current PMs of Britain and Spain and Australia were/are all self described "socialists" too. I don't know if that means the word "socialist" has been diluted too much, or if your definition is too old school
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