Julian Epstein, a longtime Democrat and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee who helped elect Hillary Clinton, has publicly declared his departure from the Democratic Party. In a post on X, Epstein said, "I think the Democrats have gone off the deep end… the lunatics are in charge of the asylum." He further stated, "This is a party that is jumping off a cliff, and I don’t intend to jump with them."

Epstein expressed his disapproval of the party's leftward shift and loss of its "moral center." In an op-ed for the New York Post, he announced his support for Republican Mike Rogers, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Michigan against progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Epstein described Rogers as a "very practical middle-of-the-road normie guy who would’ve been very consistent with where the Democrats were during the Clinton administration."

He criticized the current Democratic tent, saying, "There’s no room in the [Democrat] tent for people who want to destroy our constitution, there’s no room in the tent for people who want to align themselves with radical Islam, there’s no room in the tent for people who align themselves with antisemitism…"

Epstein's move reflects growing concerns among some Democrats about the party's progressive wing, including figures like the "Squad" and longtime Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders. The rise of the Democratic Socialists of America is noted as a recent development influencing the party's direction.

Additionally, the article references Kamala Harris’s 2020 shift left during her presidential bid, which was critiqued by the Los Angeles Times.

Sources