Morning Digest: Another senior House Democrat draws a challenge from a much younger opponent

Newcomer laments that the "poorest district in the poorest state" has remained that way for decades

Attorney Evan Turnage (right), candidate for Congress in Mississippi (credit: Evan Turnage campaign site)

Leading Off

MS-02

Attorney Evan Turnage announced Wednesday that he would oppose longtime Rep. Bennie Thompson for renomination, a decision that sets up yet another Democratic primary battle between an elderly incumbent and a much younger opponent.

“This is the poorest district in the poorest state in the country,” Turnage, who at 33 is more than four decades younger than the 77-year-old congressman, told Mississippi Today. “It was that way when I was 1-year old, when Congressman Thompson was first elected, and it remains that way today. We need real plans for real change.”

When Thompson first won his seat in Congress in a 1993 special election, Mississippi did indeed rank last in the nation based on many metrics, including household income and poverty rates. That picture remains little changed today. Likewise, the predominantly Black 2nd District has long been the poorest in the state, as well as one of the poorest nationwide.

Turnage, who served as chief counsel for then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after a stint in Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s office, also took Thompson to task for being the only House Democrat to oppose a major voting rights bill in 2021.

“Mississippi is one of the hardest states in the country to vote in,” the challenger said in a separate interview with the Clarion Ledger of Thompson’s opposition to the For the People Act. “It was deeply disappointing that my own congressman voted against strengthening voting rights here.”

Thompson, who is only the second African American to represent Mississippi in Congress since Reconstruction—Turnage would be the third—was originally a cosponsor of that bill. The proposal would have, among other things, introduced two weeks of early voting nationwide, mandated independent redistricting commissions in every state, and created a new public financing system for campaigns.

Thompson, though, told Fox News at the time that he’d switched sides because his constituents “opposed the redistricting portion of the bill as well as the section on public finances.”

While the congressman said little else by way of explanation, the New York Times reported that he’d privately expressed fear that redistricting commissions could draw new lines that would weaken the influence of African American voters in majority-Black constituencies like the one he represents, even though many are protected by the Voting Rights Act. The bill ultimately died in the Senate.

Thompson reacted to Turnage’s challenge by affirming he’d once again run to represent the 2nd District, a safely Democratic constituency that includes the state capital of Jackson and communities in the Mississippi Delta.

“I am confident that my record on behalf of the people of Mississippi’s Second Congressional District will speak for itself,” he said in a statement to Mississippi Today. “I will continue to run my campaign the way I always have. I trust the voters of the district to make their choice.”

Thompson, who has never had trouble winning renomination since his first victory, has been the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee since 2005, a role that has made him an influential figure even when his party has been in the minority.

The congressman’s longevity has also helped him build up a large war chest. While he raised just over $100,000 during the third quarter of the year, he finished September with almost $1.7 million available to defend himself. Turnage, by contrast, has less than three months to prepare for the March 10 primary.

It’s possible, though, that the race will go into overtime, since Mississippi requires candidates to win a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff on April 7. However, Thompson and Turnage are currently the only Democrats running, so a second round would only be plausible if at least one other candidate enters before the Dec. 26 filing deadline.

The Downballot Podcast

Presenting the Third Annual Downballot Awards!

We are delighted to wrap up the year with our presentation of the Third Annual Downballot Awards on our final podcast of 2025! We celebrate both the highlights and the lowlights of a truly wild year.

Who will win the honor for Funniest Cancellation of a Special Election? The Lighting Money on Fire Award? The Worst Understanding of State Laws? But it’s not just razzies: Tune in to learn who won our awards for Special Achievement in Stealth Politics, Generator of the Wildest Freakout, and the top accolade, Best Campaign—which we’ve now split into primary and general election categories!

The most important honor, though, goes to you, our listeners, for your steadfast support all year long. We could not do this without you. We are truly grateful.

Governors

WI-Gov

Wealthy businessman Eric Hovde, who narrowly failed to unseat Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin last year, said Wednesday that he would not enter the Republican primary for Wisconsin’s open governorship. The decision leaves Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann and Rep. Tom Tiffany as the only major GOP candidates.

House

CA-14

Veteran Democratic operative Matt Ortega announced a bid for California’s safely blue 14th Congressional District on Wednesday, making him the first notable candidate to enter the race since Rep. Eric Swalwell kicked off his campaign for governor late last month.

Ortega, who served as Hillary Clinton’s digital communications director during her 2016 campaign for president, emphasized both affordability and the Trump administration’s attacks on democracy in his opening message.

“The administration’s knee is on our neck while the powerful pick our pockets. It declares our struggles a “hoax” as it disappears people off the street by masked agents,” he said in a statement. “This administration is enabled by partisans in judicial robes and legislative cowards. A Republican majority too weak to uphold its oath is too weak to deliver for the American people.”

One other Democrat, immigration attorney Abrar Qadir, was already running before Swalwell made his late jump into the governor’s race, though others are sure to join. At least two prominent local Democrats, Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert and state Sen. Aisha Wahab, have come up as possible candidates, and more are likely to as well.

CA-40

Labor organizer Perry Meade has dropped his bid to flip California’s 40th District, citing the state’s new congressional map, which made this Orange County-based constituency significantly redder so that neighboring districts could become bluer.

Several other Democrats are still running for the 40th, though the race has become a battle royale between two Republican incumbents, Young Kim and Ken Calvert. Kim was elected to the old version of the 40th, but thanks to the new lines, she represents only about a third of the current iteration, while Calvert represents around half.

IA-04

Businessman Douglas Jensen has abandoned his brief bid for the GOP nomination in Iowa’s conservative 4th District after just two months in the race.

However, several other notable Republicans are still running to succeed Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, who is campaigning for governor. The field includes Siouxland Chamber of Commerce head Chris McGowan, software consultant Christian Schlaefer, state Rep. Matt Windschitl, and former Parler CEO Ryan Rhodes.

NC-01

Army veteran Laurie Buckhout, who lost a close race as the GOP nominee in North Carolina’s 1st District last year, announced she’d run again on Wednesday morning, just two days before the state’s candidate filing deadline.

In 2024, Democratic Rep. Don Davis defeated Buckhout by a narrow 50-48 margin after Republicans redrew his district to make it redder. Two months ago, the GOP again took an axe to Davis’ constituency to push it still further to the right.

The continual meddling has added up. In the version Davis first won in 2022, which had been drawn by a court, Kamala Harris would have carried the 1st District 51-48. The first GOP gerrymander flipped that to a 51-48 win for Donald Trump, while the latest overhaul resulted in a seat Trump would have won 55-44 last year.

Those changes helped attract a field of several notable Republicans. However, one prominent candidate, Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson, dropped out just days ago. Buckhout had endorsed Roberson when he launched his bid in the spring, and she acknowledged in an interview with the Rocky Mount Telegram earlier this week that his departure had prompted her to consider another run.

If she secures the Republican nomination, she’ll face a familiar foe in the general election. Despite the GOP’s repeated efforts to remove him from office by manipulating the congressional map, Davis announced earlier this month that he’d seek a third term.

Texas

Texas Democrats recently announced that they’ve recruited candidates to run in every race for the U.S House, state legislature, statewide judicial office, and the State Board of Education next year, calling it “the first time in modern Texas history that either party has filled the entire slate.”

In addition, Democrats are also fielding candidates in every statewide election, including those for high-profile posts like governor and attorney general, as well as less well-known offices like land commissioner and comptroller.

WA-04

Rep. Dan Newhouse, who is one of just two remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riots, announced Wednesday that he would not seek a seventh term representing Washington’s conservative 4th District.

The state’s electoral rules require all candidates running to succeed Newhouse to compete on one ballot in the top-two primary on Aug. 4 rather than in separate party primaries. (Those same rules apply in California for Rep. David Valadao, who is now the only pro-impeachment Republican seeking reelection.)

The two contenders with the most votes—regardless of party—will advance to the general election to represent the 4th District, a constituency in the central part of the state that Trump carried 59-38 last year.

Former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler, a Republican who lost to Newhouse in both 2022 and 2024, has essentially never stopped running since his second defeat. Sessler, however, had just $2,000 banked at the end of September, so his head start is unlikely to deter many other candidates.

And he’s likely to face well-funded intraparty opposition soon. Punchbowl’s Ally Mutnick reports that Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney, who supported Newhouse over Sessler last year, has decided to run. Mutnick adds that an allied super PAC had already raised $1.5 million to aid McKinney in case the congressman didn’t seek reelection.

Whoever succeeds Newhouse will replace an arch-conservative who nevertheless became one of Donald Trump’s favorite Republicans to hate on.

Newhouse was serving his fourth term in the state House in 2009 when Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire made a cross-party appointment and chose him as director of the state’s Department of Agriculture. Newhouse left that role in 2013 when GOP Rep. Doc Hastings announced his retirement, and he went on to defeat Clint Didier, a former NFL tight end with tea party connections, by a slim 51-49 margin in an all-Republican general election.

Newhouse easily fended off Didier 58-42 in a 2016 rematch, and he had nothing to worry about during his next two campaigns. But everything changed early in 2021 when Newhouse, along with nine Republican colleagues, voted to impeach Trump, saying, “A vote against this impeachment is a vote to validate the unacceptable violence we witnessed in our nation’s capital.”

A furious Trump responded by backing Loren Culp, who emulated his party’s leader by refusing to concede his 2020 blowout loss to Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. That endorsement, though, didn’t deter other Republicans like Sessler from continuing their campaigns.

That packed field helped Newhouse earn reelection even as eight of the 10 pro-impeachment Republicans left the House after retiring or losing to pro-Trump opponents.

The incumbent secured just 25% of the vote in the top-two primary, but Democrat Doug White outpaced Culp 25-22 for second as Sessler grabbed a crucial 12% share. Newhouse won an anticlimactic victory that fall as Republican voters gravitated back to him rather than support a Democrat.

But though Newhouse was more than ready to move on from impeachment and support Trump again, MAGA’s master took another swing at the man he dubbed “a weak and pathetic RINO.” Trump backed Sessler in 2024, and this time, his support was enough to propel his preferred candidate into the general election.

Trump, though, still wasn’t able to convince enough Republicans to dump Newhouse in the general election. The congressman instead prevailed 52-46 in what would turn out to be his last campaign.

Mayors & County Leaders

Harris County, TX Judge

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued a statement on Tuesday attacking former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, a fellow Democrat who is running to succeed her, as an “individual who runs on the Democratic ticket and governs as a Republican.” Hidalgo is not seeking a third term as county judge, a post that’s executive rather than judicial.

Hidalgo, among other things, faulted Parker for her past support for former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who supported Republican Sen. Ted Cruz after losing her bid for another term in the Democratic primary last year. Hidalgo also argued that Parker would emulate Houston Mayor John Whitmire by “capitulating to” Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

“There is another option in our Democratic primary for County Judge,” Hidalgo wrote, though she did not specify a name.

However, she was likely referring to Letitia Plummer, who is stepping down from the Houston City Council to run for county judge, though real estate agent Matthew Salazar is also competing in the March 3 primary. Hidalgo, for her part, told Houston Public Media on Wednesday that she hasn’t yet decided whether she’ll back Plummer. Candidates need to win a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff on May 26.

Parker responded to the county judge’s post by unsubtly contrasting her time leading Houston from 2010 to 2016 with Hidalgo’s record and her conflicts with fellow Democrats in county government

“My record of public service—stable, responsible, drama-free leadership—speaks for itself,” the candidate told the Houston Chronicle. “These questions have all been asked and answered. I’m running to fight Donald Trump and Greg Abbott, not to engage in Democratic infighting.”

Six Republicans are running for the powerful office that Hidalgo flipped in 2018 after more than three decades of GOP control.

The frontrunner appears to be Marty Lancton, who leads the Houston firefighters union. The field also includes Aliza Dutt, who is mayor of the 3,000-person community of Piney Point Village, and former County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez, a longtime local politician who lost reelection in 2018. The other three candidates also ran in the 2022 primary but failed to earn much support.

Kamala Harris carried the county 52-46, which represented a sizable shift to the right from Joe Biden’s 56-43 performance four years earlier.

Poll Pile

• FL-Gov (D): Public Policy Polling (D) for Moving Florida Forward (pro-Jerry Demings): Jerry Demings: 22, David Jolly: 22, undecided: 56.

• TX-Gov (D): Texas Southern University: Gina Hinojosa: 41, Andrew White: 6, Chris Bell: 5, Bobby Cole: 3, undecided: 42, others: 3.

• TX-18 (special): Lake Research Partners (D) for Christian Menefee: Christian Menefee (D): 43, Amanda Edwards (D): 30.

• TX-AG (D): TSU: Joe Jaworski: 21, Nathan Johnson: 19, Tony Box: 3, undecided: 57.