THE NEW YORK TIMES

“‘“The upside of being associated with more extreme movements is you get attention and real and perceived energy and outsider status,” said Liam Kerr, the co-founder of another centrist group called Welcome PAC.

Mr. Kerr said that the far left was currently receiving all of those benefits without “the baggage” of particular positions — a dynamic he hoped would shift with added attention.”

THE INDEPENDENT

“‘Moderates focus on beating Republicans, and sometimes they have to beat leftists on the way to beating Republicans. Most leftists are focused on beating Democrats the whole way through,” Liam Kerr, cofounder of the moderate Welcome PAC, told The Independent. Kerr also said that progressives and leftists focus more on beating moderates than they do on beating Republicans.’”

NEW YORK TIMES

“Mr. Kerr said he was unconcerned about the prospect of nominating Mr. Golden resulting in hurt feelings from Mr. Platner’s supporters.

‘There weren’t enough hurt feelings two years ago,” Mr. Kerr said. Of Mr. Golden, he added: “He won a district Trump won by 10 points. It’s like we have Michael Jordan in his prime, and we’re letting the season ticket holders play HORSE to decide who our starting guard is.’”

NEWSWEEK

“Liam Kerr, co-founder of Welcome PAC, who focuses exclusively on electing centrist Democrats, told Newsweek that while the term may jazz up Democratic Primary voters, it’s not something that resonates as well with swing voters who desire civility in politics and would rather see results than rhetoric.”

CNN

“The formal party structure is getting weaker and outside groups are getting stronger,” said Liam Kerr, co-founder of Welcome, a group working to support Democratic centrists, in a judgment echoed by many progressive activists. “We have not been in a place (before) where entire ecosystems of groups are effectively running parties within the parties in explicit, direct, factional warfare.”

WASHINGTON POST

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) and Rep. Adam Gray (D-California) said they will unveil the pledge Wednesday afternoon at the center-left conference WelcomeFest, and hope to get candidates up and down the ballot to join them in signing it. As Democrats wrestle with their identity heading into the midterms and 2028 presidential race, the effort marks moderates’ latest bid to assert themselves.

CNN

But while Trump carried all four of these districts in 2024, the group’s research found that more voters also view him unfavorably than favorably in each of them now. The principal reason voters who had moved away from Trump and GOP cited in the study was frustration over costs and the economy. “Cultural issues really got Republicans in the door in south Texas over the past 8-10 years, but affordability is really coming to the forefront,” said Dan Conway, Welcome Democracy’s political director. “That’s what could drive people away from Republicans.”

Semafor

“Welcome PAC, a Democratic group that funds candidates in Trump-won House seats, is launching a candidate fundraising drive with a jeremiad against the party’s common fundraising tactics. At InvestingToWin.org, two direct links to candidates — Jasmeet Bains in California and Paige Cognetti in Pennsylvania — are accompanied by criticism of consulting firms that bombard Democratic donors and pile up money for safe seats.”

CNN

“Ager and Pulido’s victories were a boon to the moderate wing of the party, which has backed candidates who fit their districts even if they buck some progressive ideas.

“If you give voters a distinct choice, you can escape the gravity of the terrible party brand weighing you down,” said Liam Kerr, the co-founder of Welcome PAC, a centrist group that endorsed the two candidates. “I think the parties, both parties, don’t make enough longshot bets. They don’t stretch the map enough.”

The New York Times

“In October, the group behind the centrist Democratic WelcomePAC issued “Deciding to Win,” an analysis of “election results, hundreds of public polls and academic papers, dozens of case studies, and surveys of more than 500,000 voters” that found that “since 2012, highly educated staffers, donors, advocacy groups, pundits and elected officials have reshaped the Democratic Party’s agenda, decreasing our party’s focus on the economic issues that are the top concerns of the American people.””

The Wall Street Journal

“The photo with Soros is emblematic of a larger problem for Newsom, said centrist Democratic strategist Liam Kerr. He said Newsom’s visit in general to Davos shows he is out-of-touch with the voters that Democrats need to win back and that a photo of Newsom “at a fancy conference with a billionaire activist” shows that he is “trending toward fancy elite stuff.” A representative for Soros didn’t respond to a request for comment..”

BOSTON GLOBE

“Admitting the problem is step one. Democrats are losing moderate and conservative voters of all races, are perceived as too liberal, and have an efficient army of groups enforcing unpopular litmus tests.

Step two is learning from the candidates who have been able to win over swing voters. In both parties, successful politicians have taken positions that sharply differentiate them from their own party. Just look at pro-choice Republican Charlie Baker, the former Massachusetts governor, who in 2018 earned more votes than Senator Warren in a deep blue state.

Step three is putting the lessons of these crossover winners into practice. To do that, the moderate proponents of a classic big tent strategy will have to admit to being in their party’s minority and wage an insurgency.”

CNN

“A big part of why we’re in the place we’re in politically is that the people who makeup the professional class of Democratic politics just have very different priorities fromthe average voter,” said Bazelon, an adviser at the centrist Democratic group Welcome.

“The things that emotionally resonate with them most are things like the boat strikes,masked ICE agents in the streets, and threats to the rule of law. But … working-classvoters are focused on their own economic well-being, first and foremost,” Bazelonsaid. As a result, he added, “a big part of the question facing Democrats is: Am I goingto privilege the issues that resonate most with me personally, or am I going to focusmost on the issues that resonate with the average American?”

New York Times

“It’s reflective of a broader problem within the party, which is we are scared of ever making anybody in our coalition upset,” said Simon Bazelon, a Democratic researcher who was the lead author of a different autopsy, called Deciding to Win, that was released by Welcome PAC, a centrist group. “I understand the incentives involved there. But it also limits us in a lot of ways because it means we can’t address difficult questions head on.”

CNN

“Progressives do the hard work of organizing,” said Liam Kerr, the co-founder of Welcome PAC, a group aiming to increase centrists’ influence in the party. “Centrists tend to do the sporadic work of helping candidates win in red districts and then producing the data to say, ‘I told you so,’ to the left.”

Washington Post

“Centrist Democrats don’t only recalibrate the party to where the voters are, they also provide voters with the nuance that’s needed for people to see the Democratic Party as something other than the toxic brand that it’s become,” said Lauren Harper Pope, the co-founder of WelcomePAC, a centrist political organization that supports Democrats in Trump-won congressional districts. “When are we going to prioritize the ideologies, the values, the vision, the sentiments of the people who are running in places that we wouldn’t necessarily even have a Democrat in office if they were not this type of Democrat?”

Politico

Former Rep. Ben McAdams is being touted by Welcome PAC, which backs more moderate candidates over progressives, for what is expected to be a newly created district, according to an email obtained by POLITICO.

“Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. But it’s usually the best clue we’ve got,” says the fundraising email, which was expected to be distributed to Democrats nationwide on Friday. “Ben McAdams is a superstar.”

Bloomberg

Lauren Harper Pope, co-founder of the centrist Welcome PAC, which helps elect Democrats in Trump-won districts, is trying to change party messaging. “Talking about Trump all the time is incredibly lazy,” Harper Pope said in an interview with Bloomberg Government. “When voters hear people talk crap about Trump, that’s what they expect from Democrats. That’s not what we’re trying to do.”

Washington Post

The most comprehensive and clear-eyed entrant in that debate comes from the center-left group Welcome, which just produced a report called “Deciding to Win.” Its trio of authors, all veterans of Democratic politics, lead with the bad news for their party: The public increasingly perceives Democrats as too liberal. That isn’t a matter of flawed messaging. The party, the authors show, really has moved left on multiple issues since. Even harder for many Democrats to accept, no doubt, will be the report’s evidence that the public thinks Republicans moved toward the center during that same period (although President Donald Trump has altered that perception since resuming office).

Vox

Welcome’s report has already resonated with many of the Democratic Party’s leadership. And if Bazelon’s analysis proves persuasive to Democratic insiders, it could shape the trajectory of the party’s 2028 presidential primary — and thus, the future of American democracy.