Socialist surge threatens Democrats in New Hampshire Senate race

Fifty points is not a typo, and that's what makes this worth watching. Chris Pappas did everything a Democratic establishment favorite is supposed to do. He locked up the endorsements, cleared the field, made himself the inevitable nominee before voters had much say in the matter. That used to be enough. Now a socialist candidate most New Hampshire voters had never heard of a few months ago is closing a gap that size, and the people who run the Democratic Party are the last ones who seem surprised.

This is the same movie that's played out in New York and a handful of other races this cycle. A young, online-savvy socialist runs hard against the idea that the party machine gets to pick winners in a smoke-free back room, and enough primary voters decide they're tired of being told who their candidate is. Pappas isn't some out-of-touch relic. He's a fairly conventional House Democrat. That's precisely the problem for him. In this moment, "conventional" is the thing the base wants to punish.

We don't think Karishma Manzur represents where most New Hampshire voters actually live, and if she wins the primary we suspect Republicans will be thrilled to run against an actual socialist in a state that still has a stubborn independent streak. But Democrats shouldn't kid themselves that this is some fluke confined to deep-blue districts. Their voters are telling them, again, that anointment isn't persuasion. If the party keeps trying to skip the argument and go straight to the coronation, they should expect more fifty-point swings, not fewer.