Veteran Democratic strategist Matt Bennett slammed the Democratic Socialists of America for pushing “wildly unpopular” ideas that he said appeal to ultra-liberals in New York City, but have no chance of helping Democrats win national elections.

Bennett bashed the Democratic Socialists while on a CNN panel on Saturday alongside DSA co-chair Ashik Siddique.

The critique came after host Michael Smerconish flashed a graphic featuring DSA priorities such as allowing illegal immigrants to vote; universal rent control and childcare; and public ownership of major corporations.

Those ideas won’t fly in places like Georgia or other, more moderate parts of the U.S., Bennett told Siddique.

“The kinds of things that you just read out in the DSA platform are wildly unpopular in those places, and we have just handed Republicans a very potent weapon to fire at those kinds of Democrats,” Bennett vented.

He continued:

And it’s not just like, free stuff. We’re talking about closing prisons and releasing prisoners. I mean, we now have people that are going to be members of Congress who don’t think murderers should be in prison. You don’t have to be a political genius to figure out how to weaponize that against other Democrats.

Bennett formerly worked as an assistant for President Bill Clinton and is currently a senior vice president for Third Way, a Democratic think tank.

Siddique had defended the DSA platform, saying millions of Americans are tired of having to “worker harder to get by” and struggling to afford groceries, all while SpaceX boss Elon Musk becomes the world’s first trillionaire.

“They see the billionaires getting richer while their own lives are getting worse,” Siddique said.

The panel comes a few days after three socialist candidates backed by NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani won their Democratic primaries.

Two of the candidates — Darializa Avila Chevalier (D) and Claire Valdez (D) — are card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America, as is Mamdani. The third candidate is Brad Lander (D), a former member of the DSA who left the organization after its response to the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack in Israel.

Lander earned Mamdani’s backing over incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY). The current NYC Comptroller claimed American support for Israel made the USA “complicit in genocide.” 

Beyond their shared socialist beliefs, the three candidates also agree with Mamdani that ICE needs to be abolished.

The socialist wave was celebrated by Mamdani on Tuesday night, but the victories left establishment Democrats unsettled. One centrist House Democrat told Axios that 2027 would be a “headache” for the party with them around, while another House Dem reacted to the sweep by saying “Holy sh*t.”

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump sardonically congratulated Mamdani on getting “3 solid Communists” elected.

Bennett on Saturday said it was important to note a relatively small number of people voted in the NYC elections last week. He said the Dems can’t afford to adopt the DSA playbook if they want to win “very centrist [and] very purple” parts of the country in the midterms.

Watch above.

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