At the end of Tuesday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish led a discussion about the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) endorsement of moderate Democrats over progressive, far-left candidates. Democratic analyst Maria Cardona said the voters wanted fighters instead, and pushed back on Cornish’s comparison of 2026 Democratic candidates to Republican candidate issues in the 2022 midterms. Cornish introduced the DCCC-endorsed candidates as “handpicked” and quoted House Democrats in an Axios article who were upset with the endorsement choices: (...) And some of them, frankly, are being outraised when it comes to money. One Democratic lawmaker tells Axios, quote, "I think the DCCC owes House Democrats an explanation, and I would not be surprised if a number of members decide to put their DCCC giving on hold. Some of these decisions are very perplexing.   At the end of Tuesday's CNN This Morning, host Audie and her panel discussed DCCC endorsements of Dem moderates over more progressive candidates, as CNN seemingly took the side of the progressive "fighters" in the endorsement disarray. pic.twitter.com/LQ7gzZ0WjW — Nick (@nspin310) May 5, 2026   The host compared the situation to progressive Graham Platner in Maine, best known for his Nazi tattoo, and asked if the Democratic establishment was losing: “And you have Platner, who is going to the forefront without that establishment backing. Is the House seeing the same problem?” Axios reporter Alex Thompson said the definition of “electability” had changed, as he echoed how Platner had gotten away with his Nazi tattoo scandal in the eyes of some Dems: Now, there is something to be said for the Democratic establishment, not necessarily reading the mood of the voters. And just because you recruit somebody who is, quote/unquote, "electable," the definition of electability and what is, you know, disqualifying is changing clearly. Cornish built off Thompson’s point and compared Democrats in 2026 to Republicans in 2022 in terms of candidate quality. She also said the “age of Trump” lets politicians get away with some things, which apparently included Nazi tattoos. Cardona said Democrats actually have good candidates and then went straight towards the voters “want fighters” line. She said, “Exactly. And I think that is the trend that voters have said, this is what we want. They want fighters, like I said before, because they feel like they have been left behind by this White House, by this Congress.”   Conservative panelist @MehekCooke took her opportunity in the panel discussion to describe the problems of the Democratic party as a whole, which led to Cardona and Cornish jumping back into the discussion. pic.twitter.com/QrCk0aqf4K — Nick (@nspin310) May 5, 2026   Conservative panelist Mehek Cooke stepped in and took the opportunity to describe the problems of the Democratic Party as a whole:  So, the infighting is because you have radicals today. You want to tax the rich. So, in New York you have Mamdani, you have Gavin Newsom that has billions of dollars but can't get rid of homelessness. They don't actually have solutions. And I'm asking Democrats today, what is your solutions to keep costs down? It can't continue to be “tax the rich.” Most of this party is imploding because they have forgotten the Obama days and even Bill Clinton. The common sense, they continue to attack, and it's TDS. It's never about solutions for the American people. Cornish stepped in and said, “there’s a lot to unpack there,” as Cardona disagreed completely with Cooke. Cornish compared it to the Tea Party and said there “was a lot of complaining then” as she also thought “Democrats might be going through something similar now.” The debate over far-left candidates aligned closer to the Bernie Sanders and AOC wing of the party on a mainstream liberal network was a sign that the far-left might had already taken over parts of the party, as CNN seems more aligned with the “fighters” than moderates. The transcript is below. Click "expand": CNN This Morning May 5, 2026 6:56:20 AM Eastern (...) AUDIE CORNISH: I want to talk more about Congress, because we're just a few months out from midterms. Democrats hoping for a blue wave. They're fighting about how to achieve that. On Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made eight endorsements in races to flip Republican seats. Now, most of those handpicked candidates still face contested primaries. And some of them, frankly, are being outraised when it comes to money. One Democratic lawmaker tells Axios, quote, "I think the DCCC owes House Democrats an explanation, and I would not be surprised if a number of members decide to put their DCCC giving on hold. Some of these decisions are very perplexing." So, we're hitting up Alex, talking about Axios reporting, because earlier this week I was just talking with the panel about Senator Schumer's recruits, who are also in tough primaries. And we saw that the biggest issue in Maine, where the Democratic candidate, Janet Mills, dropped out. And you have Plattner, who is going to the forefront without that establishment backing. Is the House seeing the same problem? ALEX THOMPSON: Well, actually, I would say, there were some Democrats that wanted Hakeem Jeffries and the DCCC to be doing this much earlier, the way that Schumer is. And - CORNISH: You mean just announcing who they want? THOMPSON: Yes, exactly. CORNISH: Okay. THOMPSON: And trying to clear - also trying to clear the field ahead of time. CORNISH: Yeah. THOMPSON: Because now, as we were talking about, they have these contested primaries. Now, there is something to be said for the Democratic establishment, not necessarily reading the mood of the voters. And just because you recruit somebody who is, quote/unquote, "electable," the definition of electability and what is, you know, disqualifying is changing clearly - CORNISH: Yeah, very much. THOMPSON: - with voters. And that's one of the things that you saw in Maine, which is one of the things that was a debacle for Schumer. CORNISH: Yeah. THOMPSON: Although he would argue he got some other good recruits in North Carolina and Ohio. CORNISH: Can you guys talk about that? Because at the end of the day we are now seeing Democrats go through what Republicans went through back in 2023, '22, where it was like candidate quality. What does it mean to be a quality candidate in the age of Trump, where people cannot get away with what Trump gets away with, but it's not clear scandal and controversy is going to take you down? MARIA CARDONA: Well, I think for Democrats, they are looking at a field where they have very good candidates. And again, and I will keep repeating this, that is why Democrats continue to win in places where they really don't have any business winning. CORNISH: Right, in all these little off-year elections. CARDONA: Exactly. And I think that is the trend that voters have said, this is what we want. They want fighters, like I said before, because they feel like they have been left behind by this White House, by this Congress. CORNISH: It's always the style of fight that is the question, right? MEHEK COOKE: Yes, and that -  CORNISH: That happened with Trump. When Trump came along, Republicans were like, this is not how we do things well. COOKE: Well, but I think what the Democrat Party today is facing is what we -- they should have actually looked at when the midterms were going on and before when Trump won. Remember, they actually never did a postmortem to see, why did we lose? So, the infighting is because you have radicals today. You want to tax the rich. So, in New York you have Mamdani, you have Gavin Newsom that has billions of dollars but can't get rid of homelessness. They don't actually have solutions. And I'm asking Democrats today, what is your solutions to keep costs down? It can't continue to be “tax the rich.” Most of this party is imploding because they have forgotten the Obama days and even Bill Clinton. The common sense, they continue to attack and it's TDS. It's never about solutions for the American people - CORNISH: There's a lot to unpack there.  COOKE: - It's continuing to push down against President Trump. CORNISH: But I do think it's worth - CARDONA: Yeah, I don't - I don't think - I don't think you can - CORNISH: I remember when the Tea Party came along. It was like - CARDONA: Yeah. CORNISH: What? None of these things are - you know, there was a lot of complaining. CARDONA: I don't think you can say - CORNISH: And I think Democrats might be going through something similar now. CARDONA: I don't think you can say - COOKE: I just don't hear solutions. CARDONA: I don't think you can say that the Democratic Party is imploding when we are trouncing Republican candidates left and right and up and down. CORNISH: Yes. Well, at least we can say disarray. I stayed away from that Acme term, Democrats in disarray. CARDONA: Right. CORNISH: You're welcome. CARDONA: We are in a very good position. (...)