The narrative being promoted by much of the media and some moderate Democrats that Andrew Gillum, the new Democratic nominee for governor in Florida, is an extreme-left candidate is predictably bogus. My Facebook feed is replete today with posts from traditional Democrats contending that Gillum's victory was a huge mistake and that he will take the party down to defeat.

Bernie Sanders brought a compelling progressive platform and a small army of devoted followers to the Democratic Party in 2016. Not surprisingly, his insurgency angered many Democrats, because he didn't register as a Democrat until he ran for President. In turn, Clinton's victory incensed many Sanders supporters who bought into a false narrative that Clinton had stolen the nomination. Sanders' progressivism did not attract enough minority voters. Clinton did not inspire enough younger voters or independents. The biggest danger the Democrats face in this fall's midterms is a continuation of the Sanders/Clinton divide. The ideal Democratic dynamic for November's critical election is one in which the two sides move past 2016 and create a majority coalition, and candidates that represent that coalition, to take down Trump.

Gillum is not a far-left extremist. He is, in fact, the personification of a new, bigger-tent, post-2016 Democratic Party.

Yes, Bernie Sanders endorsed Gillum, as did pro-Sanders groups Democracy in Action and the Working Families Party. But Gillum was a strong Clinton supporter in 2016; he spoke on her behalf at the Democratic convention. Gillum's Florida candidacy was endorsed by Julian Castro, BlackPAC, Color of Change, Tom Steyer's Next Generation America, and Moms Demand Action--who all supported Clinton in 2016.

Gillum could lose in November. The Florida gubernatorial election will be the most pathologically savage campaign that we have ever seen. But the old practice of nominating candidates indistinguishable from Republicans or former Republicans like Crist led to losses in 2010 and 2014. Gillum and Stacey Adams in Georgia are committed to a strategy of not apologizing for being a Democrat and of running on a progressive campaign that could unite the opposition in Florida. The outcome will say a lot not only about the future of the Democratic Party but about the future of the country.