The Justice Democrats want a new Congress. Or at least a Congress full of representatives who want the same things that their voters want—and they're willing to pick off incumbents if that's what it takes. The progressive political action committee is only two years old, but it's already scored some major wins: In 2018, two of the candidates Justice Democrats endorsed and organized for, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York and Ayanna Pressely in Massachusetts, beat incumbents who had held their seats for a combined total of 30 years, and they both won by double-digit margins.

The logic behind these primary fights is that Democrats running for office should back policies and positions that most Democratic voters want, but the establishment has been capitulating to a minority of more conservative voters who don't represent the base. The Justice Democrats platform includes support for things like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, as well as less buzzy goals like a federal jobs guarantee and closing corporate tax loopholes. To make something like single-payer healthcare a reality though, progressives will need a coalition that can throw its weight around, make demands, and stick together as a voting bloc. And that's what Justice Democrats wants to build.

High-profile wins aside, the Justice Democrats' overall scorecard is a little lopsided, which is, perhaps, to be expected when taking on incumbents. Though they endorsed other candidates that have become big names in their own right, including Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the group actively recruited 12 candidates to run against Democratic incumbents in 2018, and Ocasio-Cortez was the only one to go on to win both her primary and general election. Of the total 66 candidates they endorsed for the House, the Senate, and a few governorships, only seven ultimately won. And three of them—Ro Khanna of California, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Raul Grijalva of Arizona—were incumbents themselves.

Still, the wins they racked up provoked a backlash from the Democratic establishment—perhaps a sign of the group's potential, if not fully actualized, power. In April, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the arm of the party dedicated to keeping Democrats in Congress, threatened to blacklist any firm that worked against incumbent Democrats, essentially trying to scare off any political strategists and vendors from working on upstart campaigns.

Looking ahead to 2020, Justice Democrats are trying to be more focused and judicious, putting resources into fewer races and seeing if their strategy can last. Shortly after the first round Democratic presidential debates, Waleed Shahid, the communications director, spoke to GQ about the group's rapid growth and its plans for what's next.

GQ: How are Justice Democrats changing their tactics after the midterms? What's changed after getting as big a win as AOC's?

Waleed Shahid: We were a totally new organization in 2018, and we were trying to do lots of stuff. There are things that we’re working to sharpen, though. One example is the number of endorsements we made. I think we stretched ourselves a little too thin capacity-wise last time, and we're small organization. So I think we're trying to be a little bit more focused on the kinds of endorsements we make the kinds of races we get involved in the kinds of candidates we select, and trying to just replicate some of the successes and strengths to be discovered from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s race. I think we're also thinking longer-term, not just focusing on like, one district alone at a time, but trying to think of how these things add up to a larger discussion about the role of the Democratic Party. The other thing we're working on is being more of a movement connector, because we can't do this alone. So we’re working with groups like Sunrise Movement, an organization made up of young people responding to the climate crisis. We have to because Justice Democrats is not a direct action organization. We don't organize rallies and stuff like that.