Mr Sanders targeted the latest news that a moderate think tank, Third Way, was working on a project to put the Democrats at the center of the mid-term election. He said topics such as reducing student debt, raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour and tackling climate change were “political winners”.

The American working class today – white, black, Latin American – hurts. They want us to respond vigorously, ”he said. “If we do that, I think they will reward us in 2022. If we fail, Republicans can go around and say, ‘Hey, you gave these people the House, the Senate, and the White House and they didn’t do anything for you,’ We’re not going to do well in 2022. ‘

Still, the anchoring of moderate senators – and the current respect for the president – is a challenge for activists hoping to sway the administration. And while progressive elected officials are confident Mr Biden will end up on their side, a growing chorus of activists awaits him to act more immediately.

K Trainor, a student activist who has worked with progressive groups to convert students to Democrats, said Mr Biden’s response at City Hall was deeply disappointing. She said that if the government didn’t deliver for young voters, it would be more difficult to convince them to stand in future elections.

“I think a lot of people in my generation ask, ‘Where’s the guts?'” Said Ms. Trainor. “It feels like they’re backtracking and we’re not even 100 days in.”

Rev. William J. Barber II, a co-chair of the Campaign of the Poor who organized the West Virginia workers’ meeting with Mr. Manchin, said the debate reflected an ugly underbelly of democratic politics. While poor and low-income workers, especially those who are racial minorities or young people, form the core of the democratic base, the politics that matter most to them have often been sacrificed on the basis of political calculations.

You are the human cost of the big tent, he said.

“Democrats ran on it, they put it on their platform and they said this has to be done,” said Dr. Barber. “It would be the ultimate task and betrayal to come here and have the power to do it and then retire.”