Democrats Abandoning Party Over Rising Socialism

The Democratic Party’s accelerating embrace of socialism is driving a growing number of longtime liberals to reconsider their political allegiance—and, in some cases, openly support Republicans.

The internal conflict increasingly pits traditional Democrats against a hard-left faction aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, radical activists, and candidates unwilling to distance themselves from extreme rhetoric.

For former Jill Biden spokesman Michael LaRosa, party loyalty no longer provides sufficient justification to support every Democratic nominee.

“I refused to defend or support anyone with an SS Totenkampf tattoo, simply because they had a ‘D’ next to their name,” LaRosa wrote on X, apparently referring to former Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner.

LaRosa then turned his attention to Abdul El-Sayed, Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee and a far-left candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

“I won’t defend or support anyone who is too cowardly to stand up to extremists who think the mother of my best friend, who jumped from 95 stories because the alternative was worse, deserved what happened to her,” he wrote, referring to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“Her only crime was showing up to work that morning,” LaRosa continued.

“The Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan won’t or can’t stand up to the guy who says she ‘deserved’ what she got that morning she showed up for work,” he said.

LaRosa was referring to El-Sayed’s association with campaign surrogate Hasan Piker, who previously said the United States “deserved” the devastating terrorist attack.

LaRosa is not alone in rejecting the Democratic Party’s radical transformation.

Julian Epstein, a veteran Democratic attorney who served as chief legal counsel to House Democrats during former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, has announced his opposition to El-Sayed.

Epstein, who also worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan’s highly competitive Senate race.

He explained his decision in a New York Post opinion article published Thursday. During a Friday interview with Fox News Digital, Epstein described the endorsement as his decision to “jump ship.”

“The Democrats have gone off the deep end,” Epstein told Fox News Digital.

“I think the lunatics are in charge of the asylum. I think that there is no room in the tent for people that want to destroy our Constitution,” he continued.

“There’s no room in the tent for people that want to align themselves with radical Islam,” he said.

“There’s no room in a tent for people that want to align themselves with antisemitism,” Epstein added.

Epstein also condemned the socialist economic agenda increasingly promoted by Democratic candidates.

“And there’s no room, in my view, for people who don’t have any interest in building for the next generation but only want to redistribute what others have created and want to basically tear down the free market that has been the most effective anti-poverty liberation machine that human beings have ever invented,” he told the outlet.

His criticism goes far beyond one candidate or Senate race.

Epstein warned that the Democratic Party is “jumping off a cliff” and predicted that a “large number” of Democrats will eventually abandon it.

“I have been criticizing the Democratic Party for a long time as being far to the left of the median voter,” he told Fox.

“So, just as a matter of practical politics and pragmatism, I think the party has gone way too far left, but I think that the party has also lost its moral center,” Epstein said.

His endorsement of Rogers is particularly significant because it comes from an experienced Democratic operative with deep connections to the Clinton-era party.

Epstein described Rogers as a “practical, middle-of-the-road normie guy” whose positions would have aligned with much of the Clinton administration’s agenda.

That observation illustrates how dramatically the Democratic Party has changed.

Positions once considered mainstream within Democratic politics—support for constitutional government, free enterprise, Israel, and resistance to political extremism—are increasingly treated as obstacles by the party’s ascendant socialist wing.

Traditional liberals now face a defining choice: Continue supporting candidates whose ideology they consider dangerous, or cross party lines to defend principles their own party once claimed to represent.

LaRosa and Epstein have made clear that a “D” beside a candidate’s name is no longer enough.

If Democratic leaders continue tolerating socialism, antisemitism, hostility toward free markets, and associations with extremists, more longtime party members may reach the same conclusion before the midterms.