Democrats hit the anti-incumbency trap
Democrats are learning a hard lesson Republicans know all too well: The party out of power doesn't just ride the anti-incumbency wave — it can also get swept up in it.Why it matters: The populist energy surging through the left after President Trump's return to the White House is roiling Democratic primaries and fueling establishment fears about the party's general election chances.Just ask Senate Republicans how that went for them in 2010, 2012 and 2022."We saw it in Missouri, we saw it in Indiana more than a decade ago," said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition.GOP candidates who were "off-putting" and held "positions that don't reflect the majority of the state" helped Democrats win two seats "that I don't think we would have otherwise," he said.Driving the news: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) struck out for a third time this past week in its attempt to elevate a candidate in a Democratic House primary.Former state Rep.
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Democrats are learning a hard lesson Republicans know all too well: The party out of power doesn't just ride the anti-incumbency wave — it can also get swept up in it.Why it matters: The populist energy surging through the left after President Trump's return to the White House is roiling Democratic primaries and fueling establishment fears about the party's general election chances.Just ask Senate Republicans how that went for them in 2010, 2012 and 2022."We saw it in Missouri, we saw it in Indiana more than a decade ago," said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition.GOP candidates who were "off-putting" and held "positions that don't reflect the majority of the state" helped Democrats win two seats "that I don't think we would have otherwise," he said.Driving the news: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) struck out for a third time this past week in its attempt to elevate a candidate in a Democratic House primary.Former state Rep. Amish Shah — whose grassroots, door-to-door campaigning tactics the DCCC does not believe are effective — prevailed over the party favorite, ex-TV journalist Marlene Galán-Woods.The DCCC ran a $500,000 joint ad buy with Galán-Woods and outside Democratic groups spent millions more to support her, but to no avail.Shah's win came after progressives Randy Villegas of California and Matt Dunlap of Maine defeated DCCC-backed rivals in primaries last month.All three seats are key battlegrounds in Democrats' fight to retake the House in November.While Villegas and Shah are running to flip GOP-held seats, Dunlap is simply trying to hold retiring Rep. Jared Golden's (D-Maine) district.The DCCC added Dunlap rival Joe Baldacci to its "Red to Blue" program but it has not yet extended the same courtesy to Dunlap, which some observers see as a sign of their uncertainty about his chances.Zoom in: Add that to Democrats' big mess in Maine, where populist left-wing darling Graham Platner dropped out earlier this month amid allegations of sexual assault, which he denied.Platner, a self-described oyster farmer, had won the Democratic nomination after muscling out Maine Gov.
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- What's the story?
- Democrats are learning a hard lesson Republicans know all too well: The party out of power doesn't just ride the anti-incumbency wave — it can also get swept up in it.Why it matters: The populist energy surging through the left after President Trump's return to the White House is roiling Democratic primaries and fueling establishment fears about the party's general election chances.Just ask Senate Republicans how that went for them in 2010, 2012 and 2022."We saw it in Missouri, we saw it in Indiana more than a decade ago," said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition.GOP candidates who were "off-putting" and held "positions that don't reflect the majority of the state" helped Democrats win two seats "that I don't think we would have otherwise," he said.Driving the news: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) struck out for a third time this past week in its attempt to elevate a candidate in a Democratic House primary.Former state Rep.
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Democrats hit the anti-incumbency trap
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