Congressional Democrats worried about getting primaried by younger challengers actually willing to fight the Trump administration should do their party a favor and get out of the way.
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There was a story in Politico last week about how “messy Democratic primaries” may make it more difficult for the party to win back the House next year. That’s not only a dubious bit of analysis, it gets to the root causes of one of the Democrats’ main problems: Their long-entrenched leaders want to make all decisions for their voters, and they care about their own jobs above anything else.
The “teaser” for the story said: “Democratic lawmakers and strategists are becoming increasingly anxious that competitive and expensive primaries could hobble them in the midterms.”
The key word in that sentence is “them,” because it could refer both to the party or these “lawmakers and strategists” themselves.
We believe it is the latter… and to that, we say: “Awesome!”
First, you have to understand how such a story comes into existence. It’s very likely that one of these strategists approached the reporter with a ready-made narrative.
That could have been an email to one of the authors that said something like this:
Hi Elena, In confidence, I can tell you that we are feeling pretty positive about retaking the House. Republicans really shot themselves in the foot with the “Big, Beautiful Bill.” But I’m hearing a lot of rumblings that the only thing that could mess this up is a bunch of messy primaries. Hit me up if you want to talk about this some time.
During our reporting days on Capitol Hill, we received lots of emails like that.
You can’t fault mainstream reporters for taking the bait. If somebody gives you an easy story, you write it — and this one was based on “interviews with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and strategists.”
We can virtually guarantee that most of these lawmakers, and all of the strategists, are worried about their own job security/financial interests.
Essentially, here is the case that article makes: “Democratic voters should just vote for the incumbents who are in place now (as well as any challengers the party picks to take on vulnerable Republicans), give money, and shut up.”
There are just a couple of problems with that. The most important is that many of those Democratic incumbents are doing a terrible job, and nobody wants them to keep doing it.
The second is that the party is actually quite undemocratic in the way it is run, and that primarily benefits a few people in the “establishment.”
It certainly does not benefit voters (or Americans in general).
While there is a lot of justified concern over why aging Democratic lawmakers, some with serious illnesses, keep running for office, that wouldn’t even be a problem if they were doing a good job and if voters liked them.
For example, the base doesn’t mind that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is 83 years old because they understand that he is actually fighting for them. And he isn’t even a Democrat!
Obviously, Joe Biden’s refusal to drop out of the 2024 presidential race earlier, and the way the ticket was chosen once he finally did, perfectly exemplify these issues.
We wrote two years ago that he shouldn’t run again and even offered him an elegant off-ramp so that he wouldn’t have to admit that he wasn’t up to the job anymore, which was quite apparent to many people even back then.
But Biden, and all those consultants who stood to get rich off his campaign, stubbornly plowed on (well, Joe stubbornly shuffled along).
The same is true for the three House Democrats who died in office so far this year. And, since it will likely be months until any of their spots are filled, their refusal to let somebody else do the job is providing Republicans with some breathing room in a tightly contested House of Representatives.
To be fair, while some people argue that the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which passed by one vote, might have failed if only Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) had survived a few days more — that’s nonsense.
For all of their posturing, with the exception of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), House Republicans are a spineless bunch, and one of the holdouts would have changed his mind if that had been necessary.
In any case, who wants to keep working until they drop dead? Well, Democratic lawmakers, obviously, but why? They all would get nice pensions and nobody likes them, so why do they insist on continuing to do the job?
Look at all of those beautiful boards of directors Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) could be on.
But we digress.
We believe that any Democratic lawmaker who fears a “messy” primary should probably just get out of the way and speed up the much-needed rejuvenation of the party.
While the age difference between Republicans and Democrats in Congress is actually not that big, you have to keep in mind who they are each supposed to represent.
GOP lawmakers are for the status quo, while Democrats are supposed to represent those Americans who want to progress… and that’s just much tougher to do when you grew up in a time when there was still segregation, homosexuality was illegal in many places, and you think that TikTok is something you pop in your mouth after a shrimp dinner with lobbyists.
But, of course, it’s not just about the rejuvenation of the party, it’s also about an ideological reckoning.
Democratic voters want representatives who stand up to an autocratic regime with more than strongly worded letters.
Many of the Democratic lawmakers who are in office (and especially in key positions) still remember a time when you could work together with Republicans, and they are conducting themselves as though that is still the case.
For example, the Senate confirmed Marco Rubio unanimously as secretary of state.
Unanimously!!!
What did they think was going to happen???
Apparently not that he would enthusiastically support any unconstitutional and un-American thing that pops into Donald Trump’s addled mind. But if they couldn’t see that one coming, then are they up to do the job?
You know who should answer that question? Democratic voters — and not some highly paid consultants and party functionaries.
Therefore, we say: Bring on those messy and expensive primaries.
In the end, Democratic voters will open their wallets for candidates who they believe will fight for them. And if you are a DC lawmaker who is reading this in your cushy office and wondering whether or not they view you as such a fighter and you don’t know the answer — get out of the way and enjoy retirement.
