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Thoughts on the ‘Centrist’ Hoedown

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June 5, 2025 1:27 p.m.

EAST LANSING, MI - NOVEMBER 01: Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) takes to the stage to campaign with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) at an Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship event on November 1, 2022 in East Lansing, Michiga... EAST LANSING, MI - NOVEMBER 01: Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) takes to the stage to campaign with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) at an Evening for Patriotism and Bipartisanship event on November 1, 2022 in East Lansing, Michigan. This is the first time that the Congresswoman Cheney, a Republican, has publicly endorsed a Democrat. Cheney was defeated in her August Wyoming Primary by her Republican rival Harriet Hageman, who recently endorsed Republican congressional candidate Tom Barrett, Elissa Slotkin's opponent, for Michigan's 7th District. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) MORE LESS

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I wanted to flag your attention to this Dave Weigel piece in Semafor. It’s about an event (“WelcomeFest”) put on by a centrist PAC called WelcomePAC, which is presenting itself as a kind of latter-day Democratic Leadership Council or punchy and centrist group focused on picking fights with the party’s left wing. It’s a kind of set piece for a lot of stuff that’s going on among Democrats right now. The big push is to defang the power of “the groups” and then, on a secondary level, get the party away from various litmus tests and speech policing. Then there’s a secondary push for “abundance” politics. They brought together several centristy members of Congress — Rep. Ritchie Torres (NY), Rep. Jake Auchincloss (MA), Sen. Elissa Slotkin (MI) — and then commentator Matt Yglesias, data influencer David Schor and former Senate staffer Adam Jentleson, among others.

As Weigel reports, moments after Torres starts his remarks, this happens …

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