blue dog

noun

: smooth dogfish

: sand shark sense a

Blue Dog US politics : a member of a group of primarily southern Democrats who identify themselves as more moderate or conservative than mainstream Democrats

The governor who had worked so closely with conservative Democrats in Texas seemed to have a perfect partner-in-waiting on the other side of the congressional aisle: the Blue Dog Democrats.—

Michael Crowley, New Republic, 20 Aug. 2001

In the House, the Blue Dogs, fifty-two conservative Democrats, also prevented health care legislation from coming to the House floor before the recess.—

Elizabeth Drew, New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2009