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A handful of young Democrats have announced primary challenges to longtime Democratic incumbents, a trend that gained support this week from a top Democratic National Committee official.
Leaders We Deserve, a hybrid PAC co-founded by activist David Hogg, now a DNC vice chair, announced it would primary “out-of-touch, ineffective House Democrats” in safely blue seats, part of a $20 million effort to elect candidates younger than 35.
“While Trump creates new existential crises every day, too many elected leaders in the Democratic Party are either unwilling or unable to meet the moment,” Hogg said in a Wednesday statement. “We need a stronger Democratic Party that is ready to fight back.”
That’s a change from when the group launched two years ago and said it was focused on electing younger Democrats to open seats. And it comes after the progressive group Justice Democrats said it would look to back primary challengers in deep-blue districts in the 2026 cycle.
Hogg’s announcement prompted social media pushback from some Democrats as the party grapples with how to move forward during President Donald Trump’s second term and prepares for what’s set to be a hard-fought midterm election campaign.
Hogg hasn’t singled out any incumbents that Leaders We Deserve plans to target, but he told The New York Times that he thought former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky deserve to be reelected.
Both longtime lawmakers have already drawn high-profile younger primary challengers. Other House Democrats facing primaries against younger opponents include California’s Brad Sherman, who’s being challenged by a former staffer, and Indiana’s André Carson.
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old progressive influencer, outraised Schakowsky, herself a longtime progressive, in the first quarter of this year, according to filings made this week with the Federal Election Commission. Abughazaleh, who only entered the race in late March, raised $379,000 to Schakowsky’s $213,000, although the incumbent had more than double the cash on hand at the end of the quarter. Schakowsky, who was first elected in 1998, hasn’t yet said whether she’s running for a 15th term.
The latest young Democratic challenger to announce a campaign is Georgia’s Everton Blair, a former Gwinnett County school board chair, who’s taking on Rep. David Scott. The 12-term congressman and former House Agriculture chairman has dealt with health problems in recent years but has defeated primary challengers in previous elections.
Starting gate
Money matters: Politically vulnerable senators, House Republicans from battleground districts and resistance Democrats. Those are some of the 2026 candidates who had strong fundraising quarters, according to our analysis of FEC filings from the first three months of the year.
Rogers runs again: Former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican who lost a squeaker of a Senate race to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in Michigan last year, is running for the chamber again.
#COGOV: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet is running for governor, joining fellow Democrat Phil Weiser, the state attorney general, in a quest to succeed term-limited Democratic incumbent Jared Polis. On the Republican side, former Rep. Greg Lopez, fresh off a brief stint in Congress, announced his third run for the state’s top elected office.
Former rep roundup: Two trailblazing Latina former House members announced comeback bids this week. In Colorado, Democrat Yadira Caraveo is seeking to reclaim the seat she lost last year to Republican Gabe Evans. And in South Texas, Republican Mayra Flores, who last year narrowly lost a second attempt to return to Congress, is running again, albeit from a different district.
Policy shift: As Missouri’s attorney general, Josh Hawley signed on to a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2010 health care law, which, had it been successful, would have led to the end of Medicaid coverage for millions of low-income people. But as a senator, the conservative Republican has become a strong defender of Medicaid. Roll Call’s Jessie Hellmann examines Hawley’s changing views.
RIP: Former Rep. John LaFalce, a Democrat from western New York known for forging bipartisan consensus on financial issues, died last week at the age of 85. Roll Call’s Mark Schoeff Jr. reviewed his career.
Tax day talk: Roll Call’s own Caitlin Reilly made a tax day appearance on radio show “Marketplace” to talk about tax policy and what’s in store for that “big, beautiful bill.”
ICYMI
She’s not running: New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander has decided not to run for Senate next year, Democratic sources tell the New Hampshire Union Leader. This would avoid a potentially divisive Democratic primary against Rep. Chris Pappas, who earlier this month entered the race to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
But they’re running: Former Michigan state Sen. Adam Hollier launched a third campaign for the state’s Detroit-area 13th District, currently held by Democrat Shri Thanedar. Hollier finished second to Thanedar in a crowded 2022 Democratic primary and was disqualified from the ballot two years later because of insufficient signatures on his nominating petition. In Wisconsin, Eau Claire City Council President Emily Berge became the second Democrat to challenge GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden in the 3rd District. And in California, Randy Villegas, a school board trustee for the Visalia Unified District, launched a bid to unseat GOP Rep. David Valadao in his Central Valley seat.
#MISEN: Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a former Michigan public health official who ran for governor in 2018, launched a Senate campaign Thursday, with the backing of Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. El-Sayed joins state Sen. Mallory McMorrow in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Sen. Gary Peters.
Wait and see: Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Michigan Rep. Bill Huizenga said the endorsements that Mike Rogers has received from Senate GOP leaders in his bid for Peters’ seat won’t deter him from potentially entering the race.
Underwater with the under 30: The latest Yale Youth Poll finds Trump’s favorability ratings sagging among voters overall: About 46.5 percent had a favorable opinion of the president, while almost 53 percent held an unfavorable opinion. But among voters under 30, Trump’s unfavorable rating grew to nearly 59 percent, while 42 percent viewed him favorably.
(Standin’ by) The Dock of the Bay: Former California Rep. Barbara Lee is locked in a tight contest with Loren Taylor in the race for Oakland mayor. Early results from Tuesday’s election show Taylor, a former Oakland city councilmember, ahead 51 percent to 48 percent after ranked-choice tabulations. But more votes remain to be counted, with the next batch of results expected to be released Friday.
Guv roundup: New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s short-lived nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is exploring a bid for governor — a position Republicans last won in 2002. In Iowa, GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds’ surprise retirement announcement has fueled interest from multiple Republicans in succeeding her. They include state Attorney General Brenna Bird and state House Speaker Pat Grassley, the grandson of the state’s senior senator, Charles E. Grassley. Three of Iowa’s four House members are also the subjects of gubernatorial speculation: Reps. Randy Feenstra, Zach Nunn and Ashley Hinson. In Nevada, Steve Sisolak, the only incumbent Democratic governor to lose in 2022, is weighing a comeback bid. And two candidates made their campaigns for governor official this week. Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is seeking the GOP nomination to lead the Wolverine State, while in deep-red Oklahoma, state House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson is hoping to be the first Democrat elected governor since 2006.
Nathan’s notes
Candidates with fat wallets were key to Senate Republicans winning the majority last year. But as Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales of Inside Elections writes, thus far, the party doesn’t appear to be looking for wealthy, self-funding hopefuls to carry them in the 2026 midterms.
What we’re reading
Sizzling Bacon: The Dispatch catches up with Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a swing-district survivor who has, perhaps more than any of his House Republican colleagues, shown a willingness to defy Trump. Bacon offers a blunt assessment of the modern GOP: “You got nutjobs like Laura Loomer out there that represent that wing of the party,” he said. “But you got people like me. …We got a little bit of a tug of war going on.”
From War Room to briefing room: The New York Times profiles Natalie Winters, a protégée of Steve Bannon who is part of a group of administration-friendly conservative reporters gaining new prominence in the Trump era.
Tour concludes: Montana Public Radio reports that an estimated crowd in excess of 8,000 showed up in Missoula on Wednesday for the final scheduled stop of the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour led by Sen. Sanders and New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Retaliation is real”: Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told a gathering of nonprofit and tribal leaders that she’s alarmed by some of the sweeping policy changes implemented by the Trump administration and concerned that Congress has ceded its constitutional authority to the president, the Anchorage Daily News reports. “It’s called the checks and balances. And right now we are not balancing as the Congress,” Murkowski said.
State of affairs: As Trump continues his push to require voters to show documents proving their citizenship when registering, Republicans at the state level are leading the way, CNN reports. Twenty-two states have considered proof-of-citizenship legislation this year, according to the Voting Rights Lab.
Failure is not an option: The Washington Post profiles House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and his efforts as his conference’s chief vote counter to round up the necessary support to push through Trump’s priorities.
The count: $2.7 million
That’s the overall Democratic advantage in total receipts by their House and Senate candidates in the first three months of the year — their smallest lead out of the starting blocks in the three most recent election cycles.
Democratic candidates collectively reported taking in $123.9 million during the first quarter — more than they had done at the start of the past two cycles. But Republicans were able to raise a combined $121.2 million over the same period.
In the first quarter of the 2023 cycle, Democratic campaigns took in $21.6 million more than their Republican counterparts. At the start of the 2021 cycle, that difference was a whopping $32.4 million.
— By Roll Call’s Ryan Kelly
Coming up
Congress remains on recess next week, with lawmakers not expected back in Washington until the week of April 28.
Photo finish
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