For some candidates, winning truly isn’t everything. Their odds might be long in deep red or blue districts, but they keep running anyway.
That’s the case for hopefuls across the country this cycle, including two who decided to run for Congress themselves after working on the Hill.
Experience on the Hill can build connections and knowledge, which can translate to a successful campaign. The 118th Congress, for example, welcomed over a dozen former staffers as new members. But it can also help a candidate find purpose where others might see an exercise in futility.
‘Lightning may strike’
Cinde Wirth is running as a Democrat in Indiana’s 6th District, a seat currently held by Republican Greg Pence, brother of former Vice President Mike Pence.
Wirth came to the Hill in 2018 as part of a program that brings STEM teachers to work in Washington. She was one of the few fellows who didn’t return to the classroom after her fellowship.
“I had seen how the legislative process worked and I understood it and I felt like I could serve my students … better by looking at what kind of legislation we could change to fill those gaps that made life difficult for them and their families,” Wirth said.
In 2020, she ran in two state-level races. She lost both, but felt she’d gotten her “feet wet.” In 2022, she ran for Congress, eventually losing with 32.5 percent of the vote to Greg Pence’s 67.5. But she was undeterred.
“I’m a scientist, and if you think about it, science is all about losing and then retooling and trying again and losing.”
Wirth touted gains she made relative to the Democratic candidate in the 2020 election in the same district. Even if it’s not enough to put her in play in 2024, she hopes having candidates from both parties on the ballot will make voters pay attention.
“It seems like a crazy idea to run a race you know you’re going to lose, but when nobody else ever steps up to run, there’s never a possibility that anything can change,” Wirth said.
In Florida, Republican Dan Franzese said he’s seen a shift in mentality in the 22nd District. He ran in 2022 and was told he was wasting his time. But in the end, he got closer than Wirth did in Indiana, losing by about 11 points. He framed the loss as a positive.
“I’m the guy that almost beat Lois Frankel,” he said.
While the district, which is home to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, is still considered solidly Democratic, Franzese says he’s “much more prepared” for the campaign in 2024.
For some candidates, being prepared can just mean being in the right place at the right time, said Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri.
“I think with long-shot races there’s always this notion that lightning may strike,” he said.
He gave the example of Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., who ran one congressional race and lost and was considered unlikely to win in his second until the incumbent was caught up in the Abscam scandal.
Keeping it contested
Squire said that some long-shot hopefuls may measure progress by doing better in a second election in the same district, as Wirth and Franzese aim to do. They also may run to spotlight issues they care about in the local media.
Either way, he thinks those who have experience on the Hill won’t be “going in with any naive notions about how easy running for office will be.”
Win or lose, they are helping prevent uncontested elections, which Squire says can make incumbents feel invulnerable.
“When you don’t face an opponent for an election or two,” he said, “it tends to make you feel like you can do what you want in the legislature.” He also said incumbents who don’t face reelection challengers may overestimate support for their positions.
‘Learning curve’
Even a brief glimpse of the Hill can be enough to spark ideas of returning. Franzese’s Hill experience came as an intern in 1981, when he worked for one-term Republican Rep.Gregory Carman, who represented New York’s 3rd District on Long Island.
Franzese knew even then, coming off his freshman year of college, that he wanted to come back someday. He remembers how it felt to watch members come and go from the House floor and how he “managed to say hello to some of the famous faces that walked by.”
One of Wirth’s memories is helping to close down her boss Jared Polis’ office after he was elected governor of Colorado. She also put her history in education to good use, helping Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, to plan a brain trust event during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference. The event brought local middle and high school students to hear from STEM professionals.
Wirth didn’t originally talk about her Hill experience on the campaign trail, convinced that voters wouldn’t care. But when she described her work on a bill, which became law in 2020, to authorize a monument to the women’s suffrage movement and the 19th Amendment, she said it felt relevant. Now she points to things she would know that other new members might not.
“I’ve closed an office, but I’ve never opened one,” she said. “That would be my learning curve.”
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