Nevada Democratic Party's entire staff resigns after socialists win leadership roles in party

As moderate Democrats and far-left progressives continue to fight over the identity of their party, Democrats in Nevada recently took a stand after so-called democratic socialists won party leadership roles.

What are the details?

The entire staff of the Nevada Democratic Party resigned over the weekend after far-left progressives won leadership roles in the party.

In elections that took place on Saturday, far-left progressives won every leadership spot, five in all. The candidates were backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, and all but one of the winning candidates is a dues-paying member of the DSA.

The existing leadership responded by resigning, The Intercept reported. In fact, the entire staff, including consultants, abruptly resigned.

From The Intercept:

Not long after Judith Whitmer won her election on Saturday to become chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, she got an email from the party's executive director, Alana Mounce. The message from Mounce began with a note of congratulations, before getting to her main point.

She was quitting. So was every other employee. And so were all the consultants. And the staff would be taking severance checks with them, thank you very much.

One staffer anonymously told The Intercept, "I knew I couldn't work with her and watch her destroy the years of hard work so many operatives put into making our state party the best state party in the country."

Victory for democratic socialists was made possible by groundwork laid by activists who worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign in 2016, according to The Intercept. They continued building momentum where it mattered over the last several years, making Saturday's victory possible.

What is the background?

While progressives appear to be making inroads in some states, there remains a sharp divide within the power structures of the Democratic Party about which direction the party should go.

While Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hopes to steer her party further left, moderate Democrats wholeheartedly believe that would be disastrous for Democrats.

In fact, many Democrats, like Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), believe far-left policies like "defund the police" and "open borders" are responsible for Democrats losing numerous House seats in the 2020 election.

"We need to be pretty clear," Spanberger reportedly said after the election. "It was a failure. It was not a success. We lost incredible members of Congress.

"We have to commit to not saying the words 'defund the police' ever again," she said. "We need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again."

"If we run this race again we will get f***ing torn apart again in 2022," Spanberger predicted.