LogFAQs > #976975639

Moving the Democratic (or Republican, for that matter) party is something you can do in primaries (i.e. voting for someone like AOC instead of a rep like Cuellar.) And it does affect change. Congresspeople like that (or Fetterman, etc.) winning in the primaries and then getting elected change the composition of the party and move the direction they go in.

The idea that someone like Schumer would be calling for student debt loan forgiveness 10 years ago was laughable... until enough progressives were elected that the voices weren't just coming from activists to the party... but also increasingly from inside (the metaphorical) house as well and they took notice.

It's just generally a slow and frustrating process and you're almost certainly not going to change a party overnight/in an election cycle - it's a constant effort with no clearly defined finish line where you can declare mission accomplished. But once you're at the general election stage of an election I feel that withholding your vote as a protest is generally counterproductive. Because the lesson I feel the party takes is "well we should have moved further to the right instead to fight for those 'swing' voters." So you end up pushing the party the wrong way.