Has America become a four-party country? Tuesday's Election Day might shed a little light on the splintering Democrat and Republican parties.
There's always been "left" then "further left," or "right" and "further right" in American politics. We're a long ways from an official four-party system - but is the fragmentation of the parties portending a larger shift in how we elect politicians? There are establishment liberals, the progressive left, center-right conservatives and the far-right. But are we ready to divide two into four?
Those differences have become more stark in recent years, and since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 to a first term, "MAGA" has certainly become a strong wing of the Republican Party, even to the point where a traditional Republican like Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) or former Sen. Liz Cheney (Wyoming) found themselves on the outside of most party politics.
Even Dick Cheney, the father of Liz Cheney who passed away this week at 84-years old, found himself critical of the Trump agenda and MAGA movement. Cheney was a stout conservative, possibly the most powerful Vice President in U.S. history. But post-political life, found himself labeled a RINO (Republican in name only) by the Trump supporters after he dared criticize the president and defend Liz Cheney's investigation into the January 6th insurrection.
Now, mayoral races in places like New York City and Minneapolis are shining a light on self-described Democratic Socialists, a far-left faction of the Democratic Party that even a strong liberal like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says goes too far. The Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren progressive liberals have been outflanked.
"Whether that's around defunding the police, which he supported or rent control, which flat out doesn't work, whether that's saying that he wants to never close a homeless encampment, or a variety of other policies out there," Frey explained on WCCO Radio recently. "As mayor, I operate in the reality business."
He is referencing Minnesota State Sen. Omar Fateh, his main challenger for mayor. Fateh has strong support from the far left and calls himself a Democratic Socialist.
"When you hear DSA, it's about the values," says Fateh. That renters deserve affordable homes, workers deserve a livable wage, immigrants deserve protection. Our unhoused neighbors deserve dignity, and that folks that are living on the edges deserve our support over the millionaires and billionaires."
New York City will also choose between left and far left
New York City's voters are deciding the outcome of a generational and ideological divide that will also resonate across the country Tuesday as they choose the next mayor to run the nation's largest city.
Zohran Mamdani, who won the Democratic primary earlier this year, faces former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, and perennial Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, who is trying to land a massive upset.
A victory for Mamdani would give the city its first Muslim mayor and its youngest leader in generations, while elevating the democratic socialist to political stardom and giving his brand of economic populism one of the most visible political perches in America.
WCCO Political Analyst Blois Olson says those results could put a mirror on where U.S. politics is going before a Midterm Election that will either validate the first two years of Trump's term, or cast a shadow over it - and recalibrate who controls the legislative branch of the federal government.
"I think we're gonna learn some of that today, whether or not socialists have the foothold that people think they do or fear they do," Olson said Tuesday morning on the WCCO Morning News.
2025 will be a preview of 2026 Midterms
Olson says even a year from the 2026 midterms, President Trump is getting in front of 2026, knowing it will have a massive impact on the second half of his term, whereas the first half he's basically been given carte blanche to implement his agenda with zero pushback from the GOP-controlled Congress and Senate.
"But, you know, within the Republican Party, we saw it yesterday, President Trump came out and endorsed all four members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation," says Olson. "Rep. Fischbach, Emmer, Rep. Finstad, and Rep. Stauber. And so, why does he need to do that a year before the election? Well, that's because at the grassroots, there's groups like one called Action for Liberty. And other vocal activists who think even as conservative as those members of Congress are, and as quote MAGA as they are, that they're not MAGA enough. That there's an ultra MAGA, there's a new gear to shift into."
More than anything, the shift in policies inside the political parties has signaled a disappearing of the "political middle." Would Bill Clinton be a Democrat anymore? Would George W. Bush be a strong conservative Republican? Olson says it is setting up a situation where the more extreme you are within your party, the more likely you are to win a party primary - and that leads to more extreme candidates on both sides in the general election.
"They could face challenges from within their own party, even though they have President Trump's support," says Olson. "And that's one of the ways in which the local dynamics or the inside politics of the parties really starts to play out. We saw that two years ago too, where President Trump did that early to just say, 'I'm with these guys, don't try to challenge him.' And you see this with, to your point with candidates, you see them say, 'oh, no, no, no, I'm, I'm really conservative.' But you look at their record and you think, you know what? Maybe they're not really that conservative, but they've got to get the nomination before they can move on."
That's not just on the right. It's the same on the left, and leaves candidates in a position where they have to sell their own party first - and the voters second.
"They have to get that nomination," says Olson. "And then when they hit the general election, it suddenly, 'oh, wait a minute, I'm not quite as liberal or quite as conservative.' You kind of see them doing that dance."