Two days after Election Day, Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia made a demand of her fellow Democrats: "We need to not ever use the word ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again. Because while people think it doesn’t matter, it does matter. And we lost good members because of that."

Democrats did indeed suffer House losses, and centrists are going to battle with progressives over just what happened. Those on the left say centrists have got it all wrong.

"It doesn't matter how far away you position yourself from being a socialist or individuals who are socialists," said Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a newly-elected member of the New York State Assembly. "This is the chosen attack ad and attack discourse of the Republicans. They even did it for Joe Biden."