Centrist Democrats are trying to replicate the movement politics that drive the progressive wing of the party, but it’s not clear that the party’s moderates — boosted by billionaire donors — can build the same sort of grassroots support that has driven more left-wing campaigns.
A political consultant and co-founder of the Welcome Party, Lauren Harper Pope, told Salon that “WelcomeFest,” kicking off Wednesday in Washington, D.C., is the “largest public gathering of centrist Democrats.” The goal, she said, is to seek “advice from Democrats who overperformed this cycle” and discuss "what it means to be a partisan centrist."
“We respect the very robust and multifaceted effort on the progressive faction of the party over the last few years. They had a lot of clear coherency behind it, and there was a lot of action,” Harper Pope told Salon. “We are essentially just trying to emulate that faction of the party.”
The 2025 event, the theme of which is “responsibility to win,” features elected Democrats such as Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash.
The event also includes some notable figures from the party, like Adam Jentleson, Sen. John Fetterman’s, D-Penn., former chief of staff; Derek Thompson, a columnist at The Atlantic and co-author of “Abundance”; and Matt Yglesias, proprietor of “Slow Boring” on Substack.
Harper Pope described the Welcome Party and an associated PAC as an attempt to organize and support centrists in the Democratic Party, mirroring efforts by those on the more left-leaning side of the party.
In terms of strategy, Harper Pope described a formation similar to that of the Justice Democrats, except instead of supporting progressives, the Welcome Party would support centrists. And, instead of putting up primary challengers against incumbents in deep blue districts, the Welcome Party would support candidates in purple districts where they think a more liberal candidate, who might prevail in a Democratic primary, would be at a disadvantage in a general election and might also be a mismatch for the district.
Another key point of comparison is the funding behind the groups. While the Justice Democrats PAC received over 25,000 donations in 2024, a cycle when they were not even supporting new candidates, the Welcome PAC received just a few hundred.
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The bulk of the PAC’s money came from a handful of donors with familiar names, like James Murdoch, the liberal-leaning son of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Combined, James Murdoch and his wife, Kathryn Murdoch, donated $2.5 million to the Welcome PAC in 2024, according to FEC filings.
Reid Hoffman, the billionaire LinkedIn founder and critic of former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, donated $671,000 to Welcome PAC in 2024.
Samuel Walton, the grandson of Walmart founder Samuel Walton, donated $825,000 to Welcome PAC.
Joshua Bekenstein, a co-chairman of Bain Capital, alongside his wife, Anita Bekenstein, donated a collective $375,000.
Harper Pope said the goal, shared by centrist think tanks like Third Way, is to win by meeting voters where they are. A recent Gallup poll found that 45% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning moderates want the party to move toward the center.
“We want to be representative of the party overall, and I think the majority of those voters are people who are less progressive,” Harper Pope told Salon. “If the centrist faction of the Democratic party can be strong, robust and vibrant, it can help us not only win more elections but also help us have the liberal democracy we aspire to.”
