I voted Green Party in the 2000 election. I’m trying to prevent others from making the mistake many of us made that year that directly resulted in Bush getting elected. That election led to the wildly disproportionate response to 9/11, resulting in almost one million deaths. I protested that travesty, and I’m a New Yorker.
The reason Democrats keep putting up moderates is because they keep losing. The mentality of “showing them a lesson” by abstaining is exactly what makes them move right to capture more of the active voters. If Democrats maintained control for an extended period, the primary would become the new election, and they’d be forced to move left to capture more of the active voters.