{"id":16539,"date":"2025-12-11T11:16:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T11:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/dscc-struggles-to-reign-in-messy-democratic-primaries\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T11:16:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T11:16:50","slug":"dscc-struggles-to-reign-in-messy-democratic-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/dscc-struggles-to-reign-in-messy-democratic-primaries\/","title":{"rendered":"DSCC struggles to reign in messy Democratic primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

No matter what the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is doing in crowded primaries, one thing is certain: It’s angering other Democrats.<\/p>\n

The organization did little to stop the brewing primary in Texas, a potentially expensive feud for a prized but elusive seat punctuated by Jasmine Crockett\u2019s entrance<\/u><\/a> and Colin Allred\u2019s departure<\/u><\/a> this week. And in Iowa, Democrats involved in another crowded primary said the committee is warning consultants to not work with the non-DSCC preferred candidate.<\/p>\n

The campaign arm\u2019s divergent strategies in Texas and Iowa illustrate its ongoing challenges with controlling the party\u2019s messy primaries \u2014 triggering backlash from some Democrats who are furious over its light touch in Texas and heavy-handedness elsewhere. Nearly a dozen Democratic strategists, many of whom were granted anonymity to give candid assessments, described the committee\u2019s unenviable, yet weakened, position, as Democratic base voters remain frustrated with the party\u2019s national leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a ton of tools they could\u2019ve used and they didn\u2019t use them\u201d in Texas, said one person who has been involved in the Texas Senate race. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the political power they once had \u2026 but it\u2019s evident how weak they are institutionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats need to net four seats to retake the Senate next fall, and intraparty feuds \u2014 like those unfolding in Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa and Texas \u2014 could hinder that goal.<\/p>\n

In Maine, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is closely aligned with the DSCC, heavily recruited<\/u><\/a> Gov. Janet Mills over oysterman Graham Platner, who has racked up a strong small-dollar following despite<\/u><\/a> various<\/u><\/a> controversies<\/u><\/a>. In Michigan, Rep. Haley Stevens was invited to meet donors at a DSCC event<\/u><\/a> in Napa this fall; her two primary opponents were not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the DSCC intervenes, that\u2019s the wrong person putting their thumb on the scale,\u201d said Mary Jo Riesberg, Iowa\u2019s Lee County Democrats chair, who hasn\u2019t yet endorsed in the primary. \u201cIt really rubs Iowans the wrong way. We\u2019ve had it happen here before \u2026 but it\u2019s Iowans\u2019 business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DSCC has a long history of meddling in primaries on behalf of its preferred candidate \u2014 a strategy deployed by both parties and affiliated campaign committees. But wading into primaries has become more complicated in recent years, as the organization no longer exclusively controls access to the cash necessary to build out statewide campaigns. Instead, candidates \u201ccan build their own profile\u201d and deliver it \u201cto a national audience, which means dollars and attention, so you don\u2019t have to go through the DSCC anymore,\u201d said a second person involved in the Texas Senate race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the rise of grassroots dollars,\u201d the person said, \u201cso the DSCC is weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Challenges to Democrats\u2019 midterm strategy are also coming from inside its own caucus.<\/p>\n

Nine senators, coordinating primarily through a texting chain and calling themselves \u201cFight Club,\u201d are focused on the primaries for open seats in Minnesota, Michigan and Maine \u2014 often backing those who are not seen as Washington\u2019s preferred candidates, according to two people directly familiar with the group\u2019s thinking. The New York Times first reported<\/u><\/a> on the group\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWading into any primary is challenging in this environment [because] both party\u2019s primary voters live in an anti-establishment world,\u201d said Morgan Jackson, a top adviser to former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who cleared his own primary field after he jumped into the Senate race in July. \u201cI think what you\u2019ve seen from the DSCC, from the [Democratic Governors Association], is a desire to put forward nominees who can win the general election, and that\u2019s where they\u2019re always grounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what kind of Democrat is best poised to win a general election \u2014 especially in battleground or red-leaning territory \u2014 is still very much up for debate inside the party, leading to more heartburn over how the DSCC should operate. It\u2019s also part of what\u2019s fueling the rush of candidates joining primaries for Senate and House races across the country<\/u><\/a>. And after sweeping victories in November, when Senate Democrats are casting their eye deep<\/u><\/a> into the Senate map, there\u2019s even more interest in running for office.<\/p>\n

So far, the DSCC has not endorsed in any of these states. In a statement, DSCC spokeswoman Maeve Coyle said: \u201cThe DSCC has one goal: to win a Democratic Senate majority. We\u2019ve created a path to do that this cycle by recruiting formidable candidates and expanding the map, building strong general election infrastructure, and disqualifying Republican opponents \u2014 those are the strategies that led Senate Democrats to overperform in the last four election cycles, and it\u2019s how we will flip the majority in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to North Carolina, Senate Democrats managed to avoid a messy battle in Ohio, where former Sen. Sherrod Brown \u2014 like Cooper \u2014 is running virtually unopposed for his respective nomination. Both states are key to the party\u2019s comeback plan.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not the first time the DSCC deployed these tactics. In 2019, Senate candidates in Colorado and Maine complained that the DSCC prevented consultants and vendors<\/u><\/a> from working with them after being warned that they\u2019d be blacklisted by the committee, which had backed opposing candidates. In 2016, it spent $1 million to boost Katie McGinty<\/u><\/a> in her Pennsylvania Senate primary over then-Mayor of Braddock John Fetterman. McGinty won her primary, but lost to Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.).<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s warning consultants against working with Iowa state Sen. Zach Wahls and Nathan Sage, the executive director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, two people involved with the Iowa race said. The DSCC hasn\u2019t weighed in on the race formally, but several Iowa Democrats said state Rep. Josh Turek, a Paralympian and two-time gold medalist, is the committee\u2019s preferred candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a very strong frustration among the Democratic base with party and establishment leadership that you didn\u2019t see in 2018 or 2020 at this level,\u201d said a Democratic strategist working with Wahls\u2019 campaign in Iowa. \u201cThere is a resistance to the Democratic establishment, not just the establishment now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Democrats, however, defended the committee’s moves. \u201cThese sound like complaints from people who have hurt feelings they didn\u2019t get contracts and not people who actually care about winning races,\u201d said a Democratic strategist working on multiple senate races.<\/p>\n

Heading into 2026, the DSCC faces more primaries than usual. In Texas, Crockett, a Democratic firebrand who frequently clashes with Trump, will face off against state Rep. James Talarico, who has built a national profile by lacing his criticisms of Trump with Bible verses and appearing on Joe Rogan\u2019s podcast. Democrats expect the fight to be expensive, as Crockett and Talarico, both known to go viral online, are prolific fundraisers.<\/p>\n

Crockett\u2019s entrance into the race \u2014 including a launch video featuring Trump calling her a \u201clow IQ person\u201d \u2014 prompted eyerolls among moderate Democrats. Trump has won Texas by double digits three times and Crockett \u201chas cultivated a reputation as a hyper-partisan figure,\u201d said Simon Bazelon, an adviser to the center-left Welcome PAC organization.\u201d Bazelon added she\u2019ll have \u201ca very tough hill to climb while trying to win statewide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of her critics, Crockett said this week, \u201cI just want to be clear for all the haters in the back. Listen up real loud. We gonna get this thing done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cFight Club\u201d senators \u2014 and the candidates they\u2019re endorsing so far \u2014 tend to be more progressive, but they put a premium on backing \u201creal fighters who are throwing out the old playbook,\u201d one of the two people familiar with their thinking said. It\u2019s a style over status quo argument that\u2019s led Democratic elected officials to more openly criticize their caucus\u2019 leadership.<\/p>\n

In Minnesota, seven of those eight senators, including Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan over Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) in the open seat to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith. The primary in a blue-leaning state has pretty much flown under the radar in recent months, but it\u2019s on track to become expensive and contentious.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The senators] all really liked [Flanagan], they want her to be the nominee and they were pissed that the DSCC was putting its hand on the scale,\u201d said one person familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n

Craig, for her part, has also picked up backing from several senators, including Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). And she\u2019s raised $2.2 million for her campaign, according to October Federal Elections Commission filings \u2014 more than double the nearly $1 million Flanagan raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who the DSCC prefers, but there is definitely a clear difference in this race,\u201d Craig said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019ve won tough elections against Republicans, show up and do my job every day, and voted twice to impeach Donald Trump. There\u2019s another Democrat in the race who has never had to run a competitive race by herself on a ballot and regularly skips the work she\u2019s supposed to be doing now back home in Minnesota \u2014 and now wants a promotion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Wren contributed reporting.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No matter what the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is doing in crowded primaries, one thing is certain: It’s angering other Democrats. The organization did little to stop the brewing primary in Texas, a potentially expensive feud for a prized but elusive seat punctuated by Jasmine Crockett\u2019s entrance and Colin Allred\u2019s departure this week. And in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16539\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}