Credit: Hilary Swift/The New York Times

After the last Democratic presidential debate, pundits were adamant that the candidates most likely to win the general election were the centrists, particularly Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, that they had the special quality that could soothe the fears of swing voters. I hear very little talk, however, about how a centrist candidate will activate the Democrats’ base or inspire new voters to turn out.

But that’s how the Democrats will win in 2020.

By expanding the numbers of young people, people of color, L.G.B.T.Q. folks and progressive whites who vote, progressives can take back the White House. The Democratic Party should mount a campaign with a bold set of propositions that excite progressives and not those voters for whom racial fears can be easily exploited.

Next Nov. 3, seven million young people of color will have turned 18 since the last election. These newly eligible voters are primed for political participation after having consumed a steady diet of videos of racially motivated shootings and stories about the kidnapping of immigrant children. But their interest in politics is […]

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