The Race to Become the Democratic Left’s Next Power Firm

Behind a string of recent leftist victories in Democratic primaries across the country is a growing ecosystem of progressive media consulting firms and strategists positioning themselves ahead of a wide-open 2028 presidential cycle.

One of those firms, Middle Seat, has quietly racked up a string of victories by working with what have turned out to be some of the highest-profile names to come out of this year’s primaries.

Among the group’s clients are three democratic socialists fresh to the national political scene: Melat Kiros, who shocked the party by defeating a 15-term incumbent in a primary for a Denver-area House seat; Darializa Avila Chevalier, who defeated the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in New York; and Claire Valdez, who won the primary for an open Brooklyn-Queens congressional seat last month.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), one of the left’s superstars, has also been a longtime and prominent Middle Seat client.

This year’s midterms, and the Democratic civil war taking place in the primaries before them, are serving as a proving ground for the strategists angling to catch the eye of the dozens of potential candidates looking at a presidential run.

“The outsider energy is incredibly potent right now, and we have to reckon with that genuinely,” Connor Lounsbury, a media consultant at Middle Seat, told NOTUS. “These conversations are going to continue into 2028, and the consultants will all kind of fall into our lanes as we tend to do. But ultimately, I think there is something exciting happening inside the party right now.”

Middle Seat may be positioned to attract additional progressive clientele after Fight Agency — a splashy communications firm that had worked with the likes of Sen. Ruben Gallego, Sen. John Fetterman and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — last week became a punching bag for some corners of the Democratic Party. Fight Agency had worked closely with Graham Platner, who dropped out of the Maine Senate race after facing a string of controversies, including sexual assault allegations.

Fight Agency’s leadership faced scrutiny for the role it played in making Platner, a political novice, a palatable candidate to win the nomination. Last week, hundreds of members of the Democratic Socialists of America signed and circulated a letter calling on candidates and elected officials to cut ties with Fight Agency. The fallout is likely to set up a round of musical chairs for candidates who are looking for quieter but effective partnerships with consultants who can help them create buzz.

One progressive strategist told NOTUS that Middle Seat is among the firms that are breaking through a “crowded media environment.”

“Democrats running for office can’t get trapped listening to DC consultants over the voters in their own districts,” the progressive strategist said in a text. The firm’s signature, the strategist said, is “communicating like actual people.”

There’s some skepticism within the party that the candidates firms like Middle Seat tend to back can win anywhere other than blue districts, which is crucial for the midterms and the presidential election.

“I really hope these consultants who are pushing candidates who are unable to win a general election or really struggle in a general election take a hard look at themselves,” one national Democratic strategist working on Senate campaigns told NOTUS.

But strategists at Middle Seat said their candidates are able to cut through primary contests because of their “moral clarity” on issues like Gaza, health care and corporate super PACs. They argue that style of politics appeals to a broader tent of voters.

“What we found through Melat’s campaign is that we had the ability to appeal to virtually every age of voter, and that this would be a campaign bolstered by youth enthusiasm and organizing, but our true path to victory is embracing that desire for a different style of politics,” Bill Neidhardt, a senior media adviser at Middle Seat and former Sanders presidential campaign staffer who made the TV ads for the Kiros campaign, told NOTUS.

Lounsbury said progressive firms are latching onto long-shot candidates that have been passed over by the main party committees. Those political outsiders, Lounsbury said, are told “none of the ‘big firms’ are going to work with you, none of the ‘power players’ will be on your side.”

That leaves a gap for firms like Middle Seat to fill, pushing an aggressive on-the-ground campaign style mixed with digital media and fundraising expertise.

“The odds are so stacked against them that you have to go back to campaigning 101, just show up on every single street corner you can,” Lounsbury said. “Because you don’t have the money to do 16 polls and focus groups. Your focus group is literally, like, the local brewery.”

Middle Seat has taken swings at other incumbents this year, including in California, that haven’t been as successful as its high-profile wins. But overall, the firm has been able to claim triumph this election cycle.

The group was formed in 2016 in the aftermath of the first Sanders presidential campaign by a cohort of his former staffers. Over the last 18 months, the firm has bolstered its staff ahead of the 2026 midterms, bringing on new strategists and growing its digital fundraising team.

Staffers at the firm said their beefed-up roster and operations reflects a sizzling insurgent and progressive energy in the party that’s even bigger than the reaction to President Donald Trump’s first election. Lounsbury, who helped elect Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Maryland) and briefly followed her to the Senate, argued the Democrat’s resistance energy isn’t just aimed at Trump anymore. Instead, some of that energy has been turned inward at their own party.

“That’s something the more energetic, progressive side has tapped into this cycle,” Lounsbury said. “When you campaign, you have to campaign for things and not just against things.”

Neidhardt said that the insurgency of progressive candidates is just a continuation of the movement and infrastructure built out of the Vermont senator’s presidential campaigns.

“The grassroots enthusiasm around Melat, you can’t untangle that from Bernie’s incredible performances in Colorado, from Zohran (Mamdani) inspiring people,” Neidhardt told NOTUS.

The firm still has several major hurdles ahead of it this cycle, including progressive Nithya Raman’s Los Angeles mayoral campaign against the incumbent mayor, Karen Bass, which will be decided in November. Next month’s Michigan Senate primary will be the most significant test yet of the muscle being flexed by outsider progressive candidates, as Middle Seat’s client, Abdul El-Sayed, is locked in a head-to-head fight against the more moderate Rep. Haley Stevens, the favorite of party leaders.

“Where Abdul has a leg up on Haley, I would argue, is that no one can accuse him of being D.C.,” Lounsbury said. “Whether or not that has as profound an impact in the general election, time will tell.”