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\n

It\u2019s been a bad year to be an incumbent.<\/p>\n

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee\u2019s ouster on Wednesday<\/u><\/a>, the first primary defeat for an incumbent governor in eight years, caps off a primary season that\u2019s seen longtime leaders fall across the map and politicians across both parties struggle to make the leap to higher office.<\/p>\n

Thirteen members of Congress have lost their reelection bids: seven Democrats and six Republicans, including two GOP senators. At least 16 more who were trying to move from the House to the Senate or take on statewide office have lost primaries: nine Republicans and seven Democrats, including Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet who unsuccessfully ran for governor.<\/p>\n

The upheaval has been driven by a confluence of factors that will continue to dog incumbents through November. Voters are frustrated with both parties\u2019 leadership in Washington. President Donald Trump has targeted some GOP foes as he looks to cement his legacy; Democrats are in the midst of pitched generational and ideological battles. Some members in both parties faced daunting new district lines. Others faced scandals that sank them.<\/p>\n

In some races, those factors converged. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) didn\u2019t benefit much from her years in Washington in her Senate bid \u2014 and lost her primary to a left-flank rival who yoked her to the party establishment.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Legacki, who advised Stevens\u2019 bid, said incumbents\u2019 losses this year show voters are simply fed up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks to the high level of dissatisfaction that voters have with everyone,\u201d said Legacki, who noted the anti-incumbent climate contributed to Stevens\u2019 loss. \u201cIt\u2019s a major \u2018throw the bums out\u2019 moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

DEMS KICK INCUMBENTS TO THE CURB<\/b><\/p>\n

Democrats disillusioned with their leadership in Washington are taking it out on the party\u2019s rank and file.<\/p>\n

Progressives picked off more-moderate House members from New York to Colorado. Younger challengers ousted older incumbents from Texas to Connecticut. Local elected officials outran Washington incumbents. And voters have spurned lawmakers seeking higher office from Michigan to Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Sometimes age was the biggest factor, sometimes it was ideology and sometimes both played a role. Democratic socialists defeated decades-older Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado<\/u><\/a> and Rep. Adriano Espaillat of New York<\/u><\/a>. Former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin relied on generational change to topple longtime Rep. John Larson<\/u><\/a> in Connecticut.<\/p>\n

THE TRUMP FACTOR<\/b><\/p>\n

For Republicans, Trump played a major role in directing voters against his longstanding Washington foes.<\/p>\n

Trump-backed challengers wiped MAGA irritants Sen. Bill Cassidy<\/u><\/a> (R-Louisiana) and Rep. Thomas Massie<\/u><\/a> (R-Ky.) off the map. And the president\u2019s late-stage endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate runoff helped sink Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

REDISTRICTING RIPPLE EFFECTS<\/b><\/p>\n

The unusual mid-decade gerrymandering war took out members of both parties, who lost competitive races<\/u><\/a> in less favorable districts<\/u><\/a>, ran for other offices<\/u><\/a> or switched parties<\/u><\/a> to avoid similar fates.<\/p>\n

Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green was ousted by Rep. Christian Menefee in a member-on-member primary forced by gerrymandering<\/u><\/a> that played on their generational divide.<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson lost her redrawn Dallas-area district to former Rep. Colin Allred, while Rep. Dan Crenshaw\u2019s right-flank challenger leveraged the redraw (as well as some of Crenshaw\u2019s breaks with Trump<\/u><\/a>) to oust the Republican.<\/p>\n

Others chose to retire rather than keep fighting uphill battles. Democratic Reps. Steve Cohen of Tennessee (who had already been facing a generational primary challenge before the redraw), Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Cleo Fields of Louisiana hung it up after Republicans dismantled their districts. So did GOP Reps. Darrell Issa of California<\/u><\/a> and Burgess Owens of Utah<\/u><\/a> after their districts were redrawn. California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who opposed the mid-decade gerrymanders and switched from GOP to independent<\/u><\/a> after his district was redrawn, said the new maps have unleashed \u201cchaos\u201d on the House and \u201creduced the quality of representation in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

SWEPT OUT BY SCANDAL<\/b><\/p>\n

Call it the midterms of controversy<\/u><\/a>: Incumbents in both parties have succumbed to the political pressures of their scandals this year.<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell ended his run for California governor and exited Congress amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations<\/u><\/a>. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) dropped his reelection bid and resigned after admitting to having an affair with a staffer<\/u><\/a> who later killed herself.<\/p>\n

Tennessee GOP Rep. Andy Ogles, despite his Trump endorsement, couldn\u2019t overcome his past controversies, a newly redrawn district and outside spending<\/u><\/a>. Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills faced attacks over probes of his conduct<\/u><\/a> from primary winner Ryan Elijah. Elijah told Blue Light News this week that he believed Mills\u2019 controversies collided with voters\u2019 anti-incumbent angst.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ran on our merits, but trust was a factor,\u201d Elijah said. \u201cI think trust was the biggest factor.\u201d<\/p>\n

HIGHER OFFICE FLAMEOUTS<\/b><\/p>\n

Several congressional Democrats struggled to outmatch opponents without Washington ties in Senate primaries. Bennet, Stevens and Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) all lost statewide primaries to rivals who hadn\u2019t served in D.C.<\/p>\n

Voters haven\u2019t been kind to GOP representatives seeking higher office<\/u><\/a> either. Reps. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina all lost their gubernatorial bids. Voters rejected Norman twice: He also lost the snap primary for Lindsey Graham\u2019s seat to the late senator\u2019s sister \u2014 a total political newcomer. Texas Rep. Chip Roy also lost a runoff for state attorney general.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a bad year to be an incumbent. Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee\u2019s ouster on Wednesday, the first primary defeat for an incumbent governor in eight years, caps off a primary season that\u2019s seen longtime leaders fall across the map and politicians across both parties struggle to make the leap to higher office. Thirteen […]<\/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-27069","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\/27069","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=27069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}