Blue or Bluer

In this first primary season since Republican Donald Trump left the White House, the Democrats’ traditional tug-of-war over the party’s ideological identity— moderate vs. progressive—is back at center stage. Nowhere will that be more apparent than in key races in Pennsylvania and Texas.

The backdrop: a downbeat national mood that makes it increasingly likely Democrats will lose their slim majorities in one or both houses of Congress this fall. The headwinds are stiff, given that the party in the White House has lost seats in all but two midterm elections since World War II, Republicans can pound away at an inflation rate that has spiked to a 40-year high since Joe Biden came to office and the administration’s approval rating has