So, DSA is nothing, but it's the only thing that can save us from fascist MAGA, so we need to make it something, or we're doomed. That's your story and you're sticking to it.
Or, and I'm just spitballing here ... Dems were able to win the Presidency with a Weekend at Bernie's candidate, just by preaching a return to normalcy. That's how desperately America wanted to embrace moderation ... they barely cared who it was, just as long as it wasn't The Fuhrer. And they almost pulled it off again, when they had to switch out their walking dead candidate for another option last minute. Of course, we've covered the issues that progressives have with women and black folks, so that particular candidate was pretty much a non-starter, but, the salient point is ...
America yearns for normalcy. The extremists, on both sides, keep pulling them away from it, and blaming each other, and the "normies." You put a moderate, milquetoast Dem candidate in there (or a Republican equivalent), and they win this thing walking away. And that'll be despite the lack of support from the extremist left, trying to destroy the American governmental structure, and way of life, just as much as the extremist right has done, to date. And if you happen to find an inspired/inspiring moderate candidate ... it'll be a curbstomping of the opposition.