By Ezra Klein,Monica Potts

Copyright newrepublic

But an electoral argument was waiting in the wings among centrists and quickly tied itself to the abundance agenda. There have long been pundits on the center-left, lately including Ruy Teixeira and Matt Yglesias, who argue that Democrats should moderate on cultural issues. A new think tank launched Wednesday takes that as a founding ethos. The Searchlight Foundation is headed by Adam Jentleson, who has worked with the late Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the presidential campaign for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman. Jentleson has argued that Democrats have been pushed into unpopular cultural positions by interest groups, especially on issues around transgender rights and immigration.

“The Groups,” as they are known by the popular centrist invective, also carry some of the blame for Abundists who argue that concerns like the environmental impact of building projects or union labor and diversity requirements hamstring Democratic efforts to empower the government and contractors to get things done. “They are happy to jettison environmental groups, public sector unions, other groups as well,” said Henry Burke of the Revolving Door Project, who authored a report earlier this month showing the people and groups helping to fuel the movement.

In fact, some prominent backers of Abundance conferences and organizations, including John Arnold of Arnold Ventures, a former hedge funder, have long fought public-sector unions. Other groups with the movement, like the Breakthrough Institute and ClearPath, distance themselves from other environmentalists. At the centrist WelcomeFest, hosted by WelcomePAC earlier this year, many speakers championed abundance and the writer Josh Barro blamed unions for lack of progress in blue cities.