Murphy welcomes democratic socialists to the party, says ‘capitalism isn’t working’

Campaign Murphy welcomes democratic socialists to the party, says ‘capitalism isn’t working’ Comments: by Ashleigh Fields - 06/28/26 12:37 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ashleigh Fields - 06/28/26 12:37 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Sunday said Democrats should take on corporate power while arguing that party should have a big tent that can make room for democratic socailists elected from New York City.

“I want us to be a big tent party. I mean, I’ve been saying this for years. I think that it’s actually a sign of a party that is alive and growing when there’s a contest of ideas inside the party,” Murphy said in responding to the New York elections during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“So I’m not a democratic socialist, but I do believe that the Democratic Party has been historically way too timid in taking on corporate power. I think our party should have bigger ideas,” he added.

Democratic socialists won six state races in New York on Tuesday coupled with three congressional wins. It has all sparked a debate within the party about whether the far-left candidates could hurt Democrats as they try to appeal to voters across the country.

Republicans have gone on the attack against the primary winners, who defeated progressive Democrats who had the backing of House leaders in Washington, D.C.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) backed all three of the insurgent Democratic candidates. He has been a vocal leader for the democratic socialist model.

Murphy says a full on switch to socialism shouldn’t be an objective for the Democratic Party but said the current version of capitalism cannot be sustained.

“This version of capitalism isn’t working. Now, I make the argument in the book that we should embrace, you know, what I call a common good capitalism. A capitalism where we have more shared prosperity, where we want more millionaires and less trillionaires,” Murphy told guest host Ryan Nobles, citing statistics from US News & World Report that say 43 percent of Americans couldn’t pay for a $1,000 emergency expense with their savings.

Murphy, who is seen by some Democrats as a possible presidential candidate in 2028, has a new book out entitled Crisis of the Common Good.

“Where we have a higher minimum wage, where unions are more powerful. Democrats are not going to win by defending this version of capitalism. But I think we’ll be able to offer ideas on how to dramatically reform it rather than throwing out the entire system,” he added.

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