One important takeaway from Democrats’ widely panned government shutdown is how the party continues to struggle balancing the #Resistance with the Rust Belt constituency they lost so catastrophically in 2016. Democrats can’t risk further inflaming their progressive base, but also can’t risk further alienating voters in the Rust Belt, who look skeptically on the party’s leftward drift.

Are the two groups mutually exclusive, or mutually beneficial? In other words, would a resurgence of bold progressive candidates with populist pitches on policies, like trade and healthcare, actually boost the party’s appeal?