Democrats in Key Senate Races Embrace 'Capitalist' Label

In the past, Democrats rarely felt the need to explain their position on capitalism. They could campaign on fixing a rigged economy, reducing corporate power, or raising taxes on the rich without feeling compelled to affirm their belief in the economic system itself.This election cycle is different. “I am a capitalist,” James Talarico, a Texas Democrat, told TIME last month, after complaining that Republicans were trying to paint him as a socialist in his bid for Senate against Ken Paxton. “I’m not a socialist,” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, his fellow Senate candidate in Michigan told TIME in May, who then praised the efficiency of capitalism to “allocate resources.”The two Democrats are among the most prominent examples of candidates in tight races making their support of capitalism crystal clear amid the growing visibility of the Democratic Socialists of America and a string of victories by candidates on the party’s left. Republicans in races across the country—and at the White House—have pointed to those trends as they increasingly embrace “socialist” and “communist” as catch-all attacks against all Democrats.The defensive pose from Democrats is a broader trend than just a few Senate rac...