Factions in the Democratic Party (United States)

Senator Joe Manchin

Senator Kyrsten Sinema

Representative Ed Case

Representative Stephanie Murphy

The conservative coalition was an unofficial coalition in the United States Congress bringing together a conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern wing of the Democratic Party. It was dominant in Congress from 1937 to 1963 and remained a political force until the mid-1980s, eventually dying out in the 1990s. In terms of Congressional roll call votes, it primarily appeared on votes affecting labor unions. The conservative coalition did not operate on civil rights bills, for the two wings had opposing viewpoints.[1] However, the coalition did have the power to prevent unwanted bills from even coming to a vote. The coalition included many committee chairmen from the South who blocked bills by not reporting them from their committees. Furthermore, Howard W. Smith, Chairman of the House Rules Committee, often could kill a bill simply by not reporting it out with a favorable rule and he lost some of that power in 1961.[2] The conservative coalition was not concerned with foreign policy as most of the Southern Democrats were internationalists, a position opposed by most Republicans.

Today, conservative Democrats are generally regarded as members of the Democratic Party who are more conservative than the national political party as a whole. Today's conservative Democrats vary greatly in ideology. Some are fiscally conservative yet socially liberal, somewhat akin to the now rare Moderate Republicans, whereas others have a more communitarian ideology – that is, socially moderate but in favor of qualified economic intervention – reminiscent of Christian democrats in Europe and Latin America. On foreign policy, conservative Democrats are generally liberal internationalists. Conservative Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are usually members of the Blue Dog Coalition, although there is some overlap with the New Democrats. The Blue Dog Coalition prioritizes pragmatic solutions to critical issues, "pursuing fiscal responsibility, ensuring a strong national defense, and transcending party lines to get things done for the American people."[3] It is co-chaired by Representatives Ed Case, Stephanie Murphy, and Tom O'Halleran.

Governor of Colorado Jared Polis

Senator Ron Wyden

Former Senator Russ Feingold

Former Representative Tulsi Gabbard

Civil liberties advocates often support the Democratic Party because its positions on such issues as civil rights and separation of church and state are more closely aligned to their own than the positions of the Republican Party and because the Democrats' economic agenda may be more appealing to them than that of the Libertarian Party.[4] Some civil libertarians also support the Democratic Party for the faction that strongly opposes torture, warrantless wiretapping, indefinite detention, the Patriot Act, the War on Drugs, and Guantanamo Bay.[5][6]

In the 2010s, following the revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance in 2013 and the advent of online decentralization and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Democratic lawmakers such as Representatives Jared Polis and Tulsi Gabbard have worked alongside libertarian Republicans like Senator Rand Paul and Representative Justin Amash (the latter later a member of the Libertarian Party), earning plaudits from such libertarian sources as Reason.[7][8][9][10] Gabbard has also earned praise from libertarians for her strong anti-war stances,[11] and Polis, elected in 2018 as Governor of Colorado, has been described as a libertarian Democrat[12] for his support of democratic causes like universal healthcare, paid parental leave, and renewable energy while also supporting gun rights and lowering income taxes, once saying, "The less government intervention in our private lives, the better."[12] The growing political power of Silicon Valley, a longtime Democratic stronghold which is friendly to economic deregulation and strong civil liberties protections while maintaining traditionally liberal views on social issues, has had an impact on the libertarian leanings of young Democrats as well.[13][14]

The Democratic Freedom Caucus is an organized group of this faction.[15]

New Democrat Coalition from the United States House of Representatives in the 116th United States Congress

Former President Bill Clinton

Senator Maria Cantwell

Senator Chris Coons

Senator Mark Warner

Representative Suzan DelBene

During the 1968 United States presidential election, pro-Vietnam war moderate Hubert Humphrey took the Democratic presidential nomination over the winner of the popular vote, anti-Vietnam war progressive Eugene McCarthy.[16]

In 1985, the Democratic Leadership Council, a moderate faction within the party, was created after the landslide victory of Republican Ronald Reagan over Democrat Walter Mondale at the 1984 presidential election.[17]

During the 1992 United States presidential election, Bill Clinton and Al Gore, both members of the Democratic Leadership Council, each ran as a New Democrat, a Democrat for more limited government. In 1994, Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.[18]

Most moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives are members of the New Democrat Coalition, although there is considerable overlap in the membership of New Democrats and Blue Dogs, with most Blue Dogs also being New Democrats.[19]

President Joe Biden

Former President John F. Kennedy

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson

Former President Barack Obama

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Center-left factions in the Democratic Party began during the Progressive Era with the rise of what is now known as modern liberalism. The Wilson administration saw the enactment of the New Freedom, a package of progressive social programs. The rise of the women's suffrage movement, opposed by Southern Democrats but supported by Republicans and Wilson, saw the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and a push for civil rights legislation on the basis of gender. In the 1940s, center-left Democrats began pushing for desegregation and civil rights legislation for racial minorities, and in the 1960s, center-left Democrats began pushing for immigration reform and gun control. Beyond Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, Democratic presidents advocated landmark liberal programs such as John F. Kennedy's New Frontier and Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society, the latter of which established Medicare and Medicaid. During the Cold War, the Democratic movement became anti-communist. Beginning in the 1970s, center-left Democrats emphasized civil rights for disabled people, consumer protection, environmentalism, LGBT rights, reproductive rights, and ending capital punishment.

The presidency of Barack Obama was comparatively further to the left than Bill Clinton's. The key legislative achievement of the Obama administration, the passage and enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), was generally supported among center-left Democrats.[20] On social progressivism, center-left Democrats achieved expansion of LGBT rights, federal hate crime laws, rescinding the Mexico City Policy, later reinstituted by President Donald Trump, rescinding the ban on federal taxpayer dollars to fund research on embryonic stem cells, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the Cuban thaw. In the 2010s, Center-left Democrats began pushing for the legalization of cannabis, succeeding in several states. Barack Obama did not crack down on states that legalized cannabis during his presidency.[21]

In 2011, the Democratic Leadership Council, which supported more centrist and Third Way positions, was dissolved. In 2016, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton eschewed her husband's "New Covenant" centrism for more liberal proposals such as rolling back mandatory minimum sentencing laws, a debt-free college tuition plan for public university students, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.[22][23]

Congressional Progressive Caucus from the United States House of Representatives in the 117th United States Congress

United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Senator Elizabeth Warren

Senator Raphael Warnock

Representative Pramila Jayapal

Representative Jamie Raskin

Progressive Democrats are regarded as modern liberals. On economic issues, progressive Democrats generally promote Keynesian economics and social democracy. The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a caucus of progressive House Democrats in the Congress, along with one independent in the Senate. It is the second largest Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives and its members have included Representatives Dennis Kucinich (OH), Alan Grayson (FL), John Conyers (MI), Barbara Lee (CA), Jim McDermott (WA), Peter DeFazio (OR), Keith Ellison (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Mark Pocan (WI), and John Lewis (GA).[24] The writings of thinkers such as John Dewey and Lester Frank Ward helped shape liberal and progressive ideas in the United States.[25] The first self-described liberal president was Franklin D. Roosevelt whose ideas, such as his calls for a second Bill of Rights, continue to influence progressives today.[26] Many progressive Democrats are also ideological descendants of the New Left of Democratic presidential candidate and Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, while others were involved in the presidential candidacies of Vermont Governor Howard Dean and U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. Still others are former members of the Green Party. This group consists disproportionately of college-educated professionals.[27] A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that a plurality (41%) resided in mass affluent households and 49% were college graduates.[28]

Progressive Democratic candidates for public office have had popular support as candidates in metropolitan areas outside the South. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (MA),[29][30] Jeff Merkley (OR),[31] Sherrod Brown (OH),[32] and Tammy Baldwin (WI)[33] have all been described as progressives. Additionally, Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), although not a Democrat, is widely considered a progressive who caucuses with the Democrats. Other notable progressives include Henry A. Wallace,[34] Eugene McCarthy, Russ Feingold, Ted Kennedy,[35] and Paul Wellstone.[36]

The 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was largely a fight along ideological lines between center-left and progressive factions. Clinton received substantial support from women, older African Americans, and older voters. Sanders, the first chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and later the Senate Budget Committee chairman, instead received an overwhelming majority of support from millennials, young African Americans, Blue collar worker voters, and white working class Americans across the board.

In 2016, the Blue Collar Caucus, a pro-labor, anti-outsourcing Caucus was formed,[37][38][39][40] with significant overlap in members with the Progressive Caucus, although some moderates such as Cheri Bustos are members as well.

Representative Jamaal Bowman

Representative Cori Bush

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Representative Rashida Tlaib

The left-wing faction of the Democratic Party has much in common with the progressive wing on economic issues, but is often further to the left on issues of race and identity.[41] This group is influenced by, but also tends to be more skeptical of, the Democratic Party as a whole than the progressives.[42]

There are six self-described democratic socialists in the United States Congress as of 2021: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Representative Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman of New York, Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Representative Cori Bush of Missouri; all self-described democratic socialists in Congress are members of the Democratic Party, except for Sanders, who caucuses with the Senate Democrats as an independent.

Sanders has twice run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination (2016, 2020). In all three of Sanders's elections to the Senate (2006, 2012, 2018) and three of his elections to the House (1994, 1998, 2002), Sanders won the Democratic nomination, either through write-ins or appearing on the Democratic primary ballot; in all instances, he declined the nomination to remain an independent. Former Representative Ron Dellums of California described himself as a democratic socialist, and served from 1971 to 1998 in the House of Representatives and from 2007 to 2011 as Mayor of Oakland.[43]

House of Representatives

Former President Barack Obama	Vice President Kamala Harris	Secretary Marcia Fudge	Senator Cory Booker	Representative Karen Bass

Originally, the Republican Party was favored by Black Americans after the end of the civil war and emancipation of enslaved Black Americans. This trend started to gradually change in the 1930s, with Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs that gave economic relief to all minorities including Black Americans and Hispanics. Support for the civil rights movement in the 1960s by Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson helped give the Democrats even larger support among the Black community, although their position also alienated the Southern white population. Starting around this time, Black Americans were alienated from the Republican Party by the Southern strategy, particularly by Richard Nixon.[44] Today, Black Americans have stronger support for the Democratic Party than any group has for either party, voting 93% Democratic in the 2012 presidential election,[45] 89% Democratic in the 2016 presidential election,[46] and 87% Democratic in the 2020 presidential election.[47] Prominent Black American Democrats include President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Senators Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker, former Senator Carol Moseley Braun, former Governors Douglas Wilder and Deval Patrick, and Representatives Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, and Jim Clyburn.

Vice President Kamala Harris	Senator Mazie Hirono	Representative Mark Takano

The Democratic Party also has considerable support in the small yet growing Asian-American population. The Asian-American population had been a stronghold of the Republican Party until the United States presidential election of 1992 in which George H. W. Bush won 55% of the Asian-American vote, compared to Bill Clinton winning 31% and Ross Perot winning 15%. Originally, the majority of Asian Americans consisted of strongly anti-communist Vietnamese refugees, Chinese Americans, Taiwanese Americans, Korean Americans, and Filipino Americans. The Republican Party's socially conservative, fervently anti-communist position strongly resonated with this original demographic. The Democratic Party made gains among the Asian-American population starting in 1996 and in 2006 won 62% of the Asian-American vote. Exit polls after the 2008 presidential election indicated that Democrat Barack Obama had won 62% of the Asian-American vote.[48] In the 2012 presidential election, 73% of the Asian-American electorate voted for Obama's reelection.[49]

According to a survey taken by the Times of India, Obama had the support of 85% of Indian Americans, 68% of Chinese Americans, and 57% of Filipino Americans in 2012.[50] The Asian-American community's increasing number of young voters has also helped to erode traditionally Republican voting blocs such as Vietnamese Americans, making the community increasingly a Democratic stronghold. Prominent Asian-American Democrats include Senators Mazie Hirono and Tammy Duckworth, former Senators Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka, former Governor and Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, and Representatives Judy Chu, Doris Matsui, and Andy Kim.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham	Senator Bob Menendez	Representative Pete Aguilar

The Hispanic-American population, particularly the large Mexican-American population in the Southwest and the large Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Central American populations in the Northeast, have been strongholds for the Democratic Party. Hispanic Democrats commonly favor liberal views on immigration. In the 1996 presidential election, Democratic president Bill Clinton received 72% of the Hispanic vote.

After a period of incremental gains under George W. Bush, the Republican Party's support among Hispanics seriously eroded after a heated and acrimonious debate within the party during the 109th Congress over immigration reform. Nationwide protests helped galvanize Hispanic political participation, and in the 2006 elections, Democrats increased their share of the Hispanic vote to 69%.[51] This trend continued in 2008, as Barack Obama carried the Latino vote with 67%.[52] Obama expanded his share of the Latino vote to 71% in the 2012 presidential election.

Secretary Deb Haaland	Representative Sharice Davids

The Democratic Party also has strong support among certain tribes of the Native American population.[85] Though now a small percentage of the population (virtually non-existent in some regions), most Native American precincts vote Democratic in margins exceeded only by African Americans.[86]

Modern-day Democratic Native American politicians include former Congressman and former United States Under Secretary of the Army Brad Carson of Oklahoma, Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallott of Alaska, Principal Chief Bill John Baker of the Cherokee Nation, and Governor Bill Anoatubby of the Chickasaw Nation.

In 2018, Democrats Deb Haaland of New Mexico and Sharice Davids of Kansas became the first Native American women ever elected to Congress.[87] Democrat Peggy Flanagan was also elected in 2018 and currently serves as Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota. Flanagan is the second Native American woman to be elected to statewide executive office in U.S. history and the highest-ranking Native woman to be elected to executive office.[88]

United States President Joe Biden (Roman Catholic)

United States President Jimmy Carter (Baptist)

United States Senator Tom Carper (Presbyterian)

United States Senator Debbie Stabenow (United Methodist Church)

Former United States Senator Harry Reid (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

As of 2021, every Democratic United States President, Democratic United States Vice President, and Democratic presidential nominee has been a Christian. According to the Pew Research Center, 78.4% of Democrats in the 116th United States Congress were Christian.[89]

Attorney General of Minnesota Keith Ellison

Representative Ilhan Omar

Representative Rashida Tlaib

Muslims make up about 0.6% of Americans and in the 2008 presidential election, 89% of Muslim Americans voted for Barack Obama.[90] They also tend to be socially conservative, but the younger generation of Muslim Americans tends to be more socially liberal.[91]

After the September 11 attacks, many Muslim Americans experienced hostility and discrimination,[92] and many right-wing religious and political leaders attacked Islam both as a violent religion and as a threat to American values.[93][94] Furthermore, most Muslim Americans opposed the Iraq War, solidifying their shift to the Democratic Party.[95]

Islamic convert Keith Ellison was elected as the first Muslim member of Congress in 2006. He was elected as the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district. In 2018, Ellison was elected as the Attorney General of Minnesota.[96]

A 2017 Pew Research Center report found that majority (66%) of American Muslims identify with or learn toward the Democratic Party.[97]

According to exit polls for the 2018 midterm elections, 78% of Muslim voters supported Democratic candidates. 46% considered themselves liberal on social issues, while 35% considered themselves socially conservative. 40% considered themselves liberal on fiscal issues, while 43% considered themselves fiscally conservative.[98]

The majority of American Muslims that ran for political office in 2018 were Democrats.[99][100] The first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, are both Democrats.

A 2021 survey conducted by YouGov/CCES showed that nearly 84% of Muslims voted for Biden in 2020.[101] Another survey conducted by Emgage/Muslim Public Affairs Council in 2021 similarly showed a majority of Muslim voters (86%) backing Biden in the 2020 election.[102]

Both Hindu and Buddhist Americans tend to vote Democratic. In the 2008 presidential election, Hindus backed Barack Obama by around 82% while Buddhists supported Obama by 86%. In the 2012 presidential election, Obama again received 82% of the Hindu vote while Buddhists backed him by 84%. In the 2020 presidential election, majority of Hindu voters (77%) chose Joe Biden for president. Similarly, most Buddhist voters (73%) supported Biden.[101] As of 2022, all Hindu and Buddhist members of Congress are Democrats.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

Senator Dianne Feinstein

Senator Jon Ossoff

Senator Ron Wyden

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Jewish Americans are a stronghold for the Democratic Party, with more than 70% of Jewish voters having cast their ballots for the Democrats in the 1992 through 2016 presidential elections. Of the 29 Jewish Senators and Representatives who served in the 114th Congress, 27 were Democrats.[103] Among American Jews are people who consider themselves religious believers of one denomination or another as well as people who are explicitly or implicitly secular.

United States Senator Kyrsten Sinema (religiously unaffiliated)

The Democratic Party receives support from secular organizations such as the Secular Coalition for America[108] and many agnostic and atheist Americans. Exit polls from the 2008 election showed that although a religious affiliation of "none" accounted for 12% of the electorate, they overwhelmingly voted for Obama by a 75–25% margin.[109] In his inaugural address, Obama acknowledged atheists by saying that the United States is not just "Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus but non-believers as well".[110] In the 2012 election cycle, Obama had moderate to high rankings with the Secular Coalition for America, whereas the majority of the Republican candidates had ratings in the low-to-failing range.[111]

A Pew Research Center survey conducted between January and June 2016 found 28% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters were religiously unaffiliated. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in June 2016 found that 67% of religious "nones" supported Hillary Clinton and 23% supported Donald Trump.[112]

An October 2012 American Values Survey found that among atheist and agnostic American voters, 51% identified as politically independent, 39% Democratic, 9% Republican, and 1% other. Moreover, 57% in this group identified as liberal, and 81% supported Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election.[113]

President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten

Since the 1930s, a critical component of the Democratic Party coalition has been organized labor. Labor unions supply a great deal of the money, grassroots political organization, and voting base of support for the party. Union membership in the United States has declined from an all-time high in 1954 of 35% to a low of 11% in 2015. After the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the McGovern–Fraser Commission set up the modern system of primaries. It also removed organized labor from its structural position of power in the Democratic Party and opened it up democratically to the voters.

Randy Bryce

The American working class remains a stronghold of the Democratic Party and continues to be an essential part of the Democratic base. Economic insecurity makes the majority of working-class people left-of-center on economic issues. However, many working class Democrats differ from liberals in their more socially conservative views. Working class Democrats tend to be more religious and more likely to belong to an ethnic minority. The continued importance of the working class manifests itself in exit polls, which show that the majority of those with working class incomes and education vote for the Democratic Party.[123][124][125]

Since 1980,[126] there has been a decline in support for the Democratic Party among white working class voters.[127][128][129] In the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama carried 40% of white voters without college degrees to John McCain carrying 58%.[130] In the 2012 presidential election, Obama carried 36% of white working class voters to Mitt Romney carrying 61%.[131]

Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus in the 116th United States Congress

Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Governor Jared Polis

Senator Tammy Baldwin

Representative David Cicilline

Representative Mark Pocan

Since the 1970s, LGBT Americans have been a key constituency in the Democratic Party. In 1971, the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club was formed as the first organization for LGBT Democrats in the nation. During the 1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Ted Kennedy alleged that President Jimmy Carter was not doing enough for LGBT rights. LGBT voters contributed to Kennedy's victory in California's primary.

Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both heavily targeted LGBT voters. Exit polling from 1990 to the present shows that LGBT voters overwhelmingly prefer the Democratic Party over the Republican Party. In the 2012 election exit polls, Obama won 76% of LGBT voters. In the 2016 election exit polls, Hillary Clinton won 78% of LGBT voters. In the 2018 election exit polls, Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives won 82% of LGBT voters.

In January 2021, Oklahoma State Representative Mauree Turner became the first openly non-binary state legislator.

Transgender Americans

Virginia Delegate Danica Roem

At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, Jane Fee of Minnesota was the first transgender delegate to a Democratic National Convention. The 2008 national Democratic Party platform for the first time included "gender identity" in the party platform, the first explicit inclusion of transgender people in the national Democratic Party platform. In 2009, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) added gender identity to the DNC's non-discrimination policy and DNC Chair Tim Kaine appointed Barbra Casbar Siperstein the first openly transgender member of the DNC. In 2010, President Obama became the first president to appoint an openly transgender person to political positions in the United States federal government. In 2012, Trans United for Obama, the first partisan transgender issues group was formed to reelect President Barack Obama.[132] During the 2015 State of the Union Address, President Obama became the first U.S. president ever to use the term "transgender".[133] At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person to address a Democratic National Convention.[134] A 2015 United States Transgender Survey found 50% of transgender Americans identified as Democrats and 48% as independents. When asked about their political views, 55% described themselves as very liberal, 27% liberal, 15% moderate, 2% conservative, and 1% very conservative.[135] Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine was the first openly transgender person to hold an office that requires Senate confirmation.[136]