College affordability and student debt sparked many moments of discord on the campaign trail between the two candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for president. But now as the party pivots to take on Republican nominee, Donald Trump, those issues are proving to be key points of unity.

In her speech accepting the Democratic nomination Thursday, Hillary Clinton told supporters that she and her former rival Bernie Sanders would work together “to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all.” That moment comes three days after Sanders said Clinton’s college affordability plan would “revolutionize higher education” as part of a pitch for party unity during his speech at the Democratic National Convention. …

“The root cause of unity on the debt-free college issue is it’s immensely popular with voters and would be a game-changer in millions of people’s lives. Both candidates knew that and had an incentive to unify around this big idea,” said Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Commission, which helped push debt-free college into the mainstream through its advocacy. “A year and a half ago almost no politicians were talking about debt-free college and at this convention we’ve heard Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and a bunch of down-ticket candidates unifying around this big idea.”

More than Sanders, Warren has taken the lead in shaping the Democrats’ next generation. Formerly a professor of law, Warren conceived and set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau formed in 2011 under President Obama.

She launched a political action committee to back Democratic candidates and inspired other advocacy groups, such as the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, to solicit donations to a bloc it terms the party’s “Warren wing.” …

The PCCC’s slate of “Warren wing” candidates supports a $15-an-hour minimum wage, campaign-finance reform and tighter rules for Wall Street.

One of those on the slate is Zephyr Teachout, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York, who has campaigned in a T-shirt that reads, “I’m from the Elizabeth Warren wing of the party” and who has been endorsed by Sanders.

“There is a rising and very important populism, talking about money in politics, talking about trade, talking about economic issues,” Teachout, 44, told Reuters. “Within the party, and across the board, there has been a serious rethinking of trade, rethinking of big banks, rethinking of monopolies that have too much power.”

The progressives in the Democratic Party made their presence known at the convention and throughout the 2016 race. They shifted the party’s platform to the left. They protested outside the Wells Fargo Center and jeered speakers from the convention floor. And thanks to the party’s left flank, Democrats almost nominated a self-described socialist for president.

Now there’s just one question left: Who will be their leader next year, after the new president, whoever that is, moves into the White House? …

“The truth is that there is no need for them to clash over a leadership role because they can lead in different areas doing different things,” said Charles Chamberlain, the executive director of the progressive Democracy for America in Vermont, who organized a Draft Warren for president effort before eventually endorsing Sanders in the primary. “Sanders has a full range of issues he has talked about in the campaign, while Warren is laser focused on income inequality and Wall Street reform.”

Instead of one lion, there could be “many lions,” said Progressive Change Campaign Committee cofounder Stephanie Taylor, adding, “Let many flowers bloom.”

Another aspect of Clinton’s appeal is that she seems to have evolved with the Democratic Party as it’s shifted to the left in recent years. “Two years ago, it was almost unimaginable that Hillary Clinton would be campaigning on debt-free college, expanding Social Security, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and the public option,” Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, told me. “The fact that she’s there isn’t necessarily a revolution—it is symbolic of years of progressive hard work moving the Democratic Party in a populist direction.”

Though Hillary Clinton’s choice of running mate renewed charges from the left over the weekend that she is a centrist – even a “corporatist” – who posed as progressive to get through a hard-fought Democratic primary, her actions on the campaign trail are hardly those of a candidate racing back to the center.

Clinton heads into the Democratic National Convention starting Monday in Philadelphia as one of the party’s most liberal nominees in recent history, tacking so far in the direction of progressives that some are still astonished by the positions she has taken.

“Two years ago, it was almost unimaginable that Hillary Clinton would be campaigning on debt-free college, expanding Social Security, breaking up ‘too big to fail’ banks and all these other progressive issues,” said Adam Green, a founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “It is the sign of our times and her recognition of where the country has moved.”

Bernie Sanders hoped to use his primetime address Monday at the Democratic National Convention here to highlight the moral victories achieved by his progressive insurgency while urging his supporters to consolidate behind Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump.

But the leak of internal emails showing Democratic National Committee staffers disparaging Sanders and discussing ways to undermine his White House bid has reopened the wounds of Clinton and Sanders’ fierce primary battle, complicating the Vermont senator’s task. …

Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Sanders should stress his campaign’s successes in moving the party to the left on key economic populist issues.

“There’s process, and there’s substance. Despite some process flaws, progressives won the day on the substance,” Green said. “The fact that we have a Democratic Party united around debt-free college, expanding Social Security, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and the public option shows that we won.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is relishing her role as one of Hillary Clinton’s most effective attack dogs against Donald Trump. …

But Warren is unlikely to stop attacking Trump and pushing her economic message just because she won’t be the vice presidential nominee, say allies on the left.

“She’s motivated by a policy agenda she believes in,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “She’s not motivated by a desire to audition for a title.”

Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Kaine’s support for the financial industry isn’t likely to allay some liberals’ concerns that the party’s presidential ticket is too cozy with Wall Street.

Since being chosen by presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on Friday, a few voices in the party’s liberal wing have criticized the selection, saying the Virginia senator is a centrist who has taken positions out of step with the party’s anti-Wall Street, populist mood. …

Hoping to sway progressive voters, who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the campaign has taken on a more liberal agenda on financial regulation, including a robust defense of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and calling for the U.S. Postal Service to offer basic banking services. …

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee lauded initial steps by the Clinton-Kaine ticket to adopt populist positions and urged continued steps on financial regulation.

“We hope Tim Kaine soon joins Hillary Clinton in calling for breaking up too big to fail banks and prosecuting Wall Street bankers who break the law,” Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the organization, said in a statement Saturday.

Hillary Clinton debuted running mate Sen. Tim Kaine on Saturday as a can-do progressive committed to social justice and equality — “everything Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not” — at a boisterous rally ahead of next week’s Democratic National Convention.

“He is qualified to step into this job and lead from Day One. And he is a progressive who likes to get things done,” Clinton declared at Florida International University. …

But progressive groups said they want more assurances that the White House, which has pushed the trade deal, won’t try to ram it through after the November election.

“The selection increases the burden on Hillary Clinton to pressure the White House to take TPP off the table in a lame-duck Congress,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.