The Democratic Party of 2026 is not the Democratic Party of 2024. During the last election cycle, then-Vice President Kamala Harris struck a hawkish note. While the Democratic Party squashed a rebellion of voters angry about the Gaza war, Harris attacked then-Republican candidate Donald Trump for appeasing Iran and North Korea.
But after two years of turmoil in the Middle East, including Trump's unsuccessful Iran war, the Democratic Party has changed. Establishment politicians like Rep. Adam Smith (D–Wash.) have openly said that it was a mistake to become associated with "neoconservative global dominance visions," and more hawkish incumbents were overthrown in primaries that were very much about the war.
