Tucson race a microcosm of Dem feuds

He added, “I have not gotten hung up about ‘I’m a progressive Democrat,’ or ‘I’m a DSA Democrat.'”

Hernandez dismisses that entire concept.

“I’ll be honest,” she told me. “I don’t consider the DSA as part of the Democratic Party. I mean, it’s a movement, and I think that quite frankly they should start their own party.”

If you look at how the Green or Libertarian parties have fared, you can probably see why they haven’t. Being part of a small party means losing over and over. 

When I asked Robbins about the issue, he said that, as an individual, he views the DSA-affiliated Democrats as part of the party’s future. 

“The Democratic party needs to embrace issues more than asking people to identify as purist Democrats,” he said.

Across the country, no issue has animated the DSA-affiliated candidates so consistently as opposition to Israel’s wars in the Middle East and U.S. support for Israel. You would think that would be far from a top issue in a state legislative race in Arizona, but that’s not the case.

Hernandez, who is Jewish, accuses Perez of being so obsessed with Israel that he’s veered into antisemitism by, for example, calling her an “Israel-first” candidate. She considers that wrong and offensive. 

“If that is your entire campaign against me, to unseat a Zionist, I don’t know how productive or how anyone can expect it to be a clean and friendly primary. I don’t go to the (voters’) doors and say, ‘Hey I’m Jewish, vote for me.’ I go to the doors and talk about the issues and everything I’m working on.”

But Perez didn’t pluck Hernandez’s Zionism and avid support for Israel from obscurity. It’s something she wears on her sleeve and brings into her work as a legislator.