N.H. democratic socialist candidate won't commit to endorsing moderate nominee for Senate

Karishma Manzur won't say she'll back Chris Pappas if he wins the New Hampshire primary Tuesday. Sit with that for a second. This isn't a third-party spoiler or some independent flirting with both sides. This is a Democratic socialist candidate declining to commit to the Democratic nominee, in a party that spends every waking hour lecturing the rest of us about unity against an existential threat.

It's a useful window into what's actually happening inside that coalition right now. The activist left has decided moderate Democrats like Pappas are barely distinguishable from Republicans, and they're increasingly willing to say so out loud rather than fall in line come November. That's their right. But it does undercut the whole "democracy is on the ballot, we must all pull together" routine that gets trotted out every cycle whenever a Republican is the general election opponent.

New Hampshire voters deserve to know this before Tuesday, not after. If Manzur loses the primary and still can't bring herself to endorse Pappas, that's a real fracture, not a footnote, and it says something about where the party's energy actually lives versus where its electoral hopes lie. Pappas has to run a general election with a base that may not show up for him with any enthusiasm. That's his problem to manage. Ours is just noticing that the party demanding discipline from everyone else can't seem to enforce it on itself.