We have an incredibly strong slate of Senate candidates!
Question: What additional Senate candidates would you love to see recruited, and in which states?) Feel free to include people who have so far said they won’t run.) Here are a few of my wishes:
– Andrew Beshear in Kentucky. Our strongest card for this open seat!
– John Tester in Montana. I know. Who else has even a marginal chance?
– Laura Kelly in Kansas. I trust all the DB posters rooting for her to run.
– Maine? I’d like to see a strong alternative to Mills and Platner.
– Joe Manchin in West Virginia. Sadly, the best we can hope for.
– Do we want Tina Smith (MN) or Gary Peters (MI) to reconsider and run?
– Do Dems have anyone, declared or undeclared, with a chance in Florida?
– Oh, and I’d like to see Jasmine Crocket withdraw in Texas.
KY: Andy Beshear will lose as soon as he faces national polarization in a Senate race in deep red Kentucky. It would be a huge waste of money. There isn’t a legislature to override all of his vetoes.
MT: Jon Tester has ruled it out.
KS: It might be worth running Gov. Kelly in a blue-wave year.
WV: We don’t need to enrich that putrid guy. He won’t win anymore; polarization eventually catches up.
ME: One of Platner or Mills will be the nominee. Let’s wait and see. It's shaping up to be a blockbuster primary between a controversial left-wing populist and a moderate Governor.
MN and MI: Smith and Peters are not going to run.
FL:Democrats might have a chance in Florida if a Representative who gets redistricted out by DeSantis decides to run statewide.
A very anti-labor record, opposition to red-flag laws, a weak stance against ICE, no support for universal health care, and the revocation of the executive order encouraging ICE cooperation just two weeks ago. I’m sure there’s more.
Remember that it was the labor unions who recruited Platner.
Also she killed a bill for tracking rape kits , leaving Maine as the only state without this. And while not on the liberal-moderate spectrum but especially relevant in the age of Epstein scandal, Collins would probably have a field day with attack ads on Mills pardon of a child sex predator who admitted he was guilty— here is a quote from her trying to evoke sympathy for him ““We certainly hope that the incident does not result in a devastating blow to his academic and professional career,” Janet Mills, who was then a state lawmaker, said in January 2002,”. https://www.newsbreak.com/bangor-daily-news-1696700/3770194479117-janet-mills-pardoned-a-man-she-defended-in-a-sexual-assault-case
Tester wants peace, and Beshear is working on another job opportunity. I think Laura Kelly could really make Roger Marshall squirm. He's one of the most extreme far-right Senators and completely useless to Kansas.
Maine has been problematic from the start. Collins will either get an opponent with plenty of baggage to exploit or another moderate woman in her 70s who recently praised her. We're going to sweat this one to the very end.
I love Jasmine Crockett. We need her voice in Congress and in the public sphere. But she's not winning Texas. I think she would struggle to win statewide in much bluer states like MN, MI, PA, etc. Is she seeing something others are not, or is the objective not necessarily to win the Senate race?
I don't think anyone is clamoring for Gary Peters to stay. He's continuing to vote with Republicans a lot (even more?) on his way out the door. Tina Smith has been great, so it's very sad to see her retire, but we have solid candidates in MN (and MI). I think the bigger worry with states like these is that most of the Democrats are clustered into one major city, which makes it easy for voter intimidation and suppression to have an effect on the state-wide race.
I have never heard of anyone by the name of Joe Manchin or this place called "Florida".
I think a more valuable question is which leader with integrity could run in deep red states as an Independent or even first run as an anti-MAGA Republican and then run as an independent after the primary.
David French once wrote he considered running against Trump in 2016. Could he put TN in play?
For 2028, Utah Republicans are some of the least MAGA Republicans and Lee only got 53.2% of the vote last time. Who can replace McMullin.
Even a conservative Independent who voted with Democrats only a third or quarter of the time would be better than the cowed Republicans and MAGA Republicans who never buck the party.
Mike Lee is an asshole who is on record wanting to eliminate Social Security! He’s been credibly described as "Ted Cruz’s less-intelligent sidekick". I was really hoping Evan McMullin would replace him.
Honestly it's the behind-the-scenes strongarming that annoys me the most. Either be public about it or don't do it. Behavior like this is (part of) why the party has such a low approval rating, imo.
My question is why are they opposed to those two? I don't complain in the abstract about "meddling"; it could be crucial for a victory sometimes. But why are these two so much worse than Turek?
I think in their mind it isn’t so much that those other two are much worse. They think that Turek is that much better. Paralympic gold medalist who holds the reddest seat for Democrats in the legislature. He also went from a 6 vote 0.1% win out of 6,807 votes cast in 2022 in his first election to a 561 vote 5% win out of 11,208 votes cast in his first re-election campaign in 2024, a year obviously much worse nationally for the Democratic Party with far higher Republican voter turnout.
Hard not to argue with that background/resume being able to win a now red state. I also think Turek would be strongest, but ironically Schumer inserting himself into the primary I could see backfire spectacularly into making his chosen candidate lose the race from a “pox on the establishment” base vote if our party voters decide to go full tea party in 2026 primaries.
The other 2 candidates are basically untested with GOP/Trump voters who Democrats need to win a large chunk of in order to flip the Senate seat. State Senator Zach Wahls won both his elections with minimal (libertarian) opposition in 2018 winning 78-21 and no opposition in 2022. Nathan Sage has never faced voters before. Pretty obvious why DSCC/Schumer are backing Turek.
Worth mentioning that Wahls was elected Senate Minority Leader by our caucus, but left that post just 2 years in after he and the rest of our caucus disagreed on firing two longtime Democratic staffers. I take no position on which side was right on that issue, but abandoning your top leadership position and creating caucus drama in an already red difficult state to win leaves a bad taste in my mouth and those kinds of things can prevent the Democratic team from rowing in the same direction for 2026 over grudges/animosity behind the scenes, with which is a complete necessity to pull off an upset.
Sage is running as a populist but has a weak fundraising and gathered no endorsments or elite support like Platner or El-Sayed. He is out of the contention.
Wahls went viral for a hard hitting speech, as a teenager with lesbian moms, at the Iowa legislature after which he became an LGBTQ activist and later politician. He is also the former minority leader. He is a liberal associated with the Iowa Dem establishment.
Turek is a paraolympic champion who won a red seat. He has a moderate and populist underdog branding.
Laura Belin at Bleeding Heartland noted that Turek and Wahls have essential the same voting record and platforms.
Turek has an independent mind and is not an establishmentarian like Stevens or Craig. He would clearly be the strongest candidate but DSCC intervening could backfire.
It does seem like Turek has the best opportunity to win over those red leaning "independents" that have been voting republican lately, and we'll need those voters to have a chance to win in Iowa.
NY-12: Health activist Nina Schwalbe is running. She joins a crowded Democratic primary that includes Micah Lasher, Cam Kasky, Jack Schlossberg, Alex Bores, George Conway, Alan Pardee, Jami Floyd and Matt Shurka.
Fantastic. I particularly detest Hoffman and Gillibrand’s DSCC so Warren’s comments are welcome.
Question — Gillibrand has been discussed as a possible primary target before. Who could do it, in the event AOC goes for Schumer’s seat? Tish James will be too old by that point so I’m out of ideas.
Pat Ryan is further to the left than Gillibrand but not as lefty as AOC - he has a broad appeal in his district
I'm sure that Zohran Mamdani will be confronted with higher aspirations in the future, but he could run for re election as mayor in 2029, too.
I should add that Goldman and Torres (if they make it out of primaries) are potential statewide candidates, but probably not for a primary against Gillibrand
The first domino falls. Definitely a seat Democrats should target, only on the outskirts of competitiveness, but they can sometimes fall in a wave, ala OK-05 Kendra Horn 2018.
MA-4: Word is Ihssane Leckey (D) is considering a primary challenge to the noxious Rep. Auchincloss. Love to see her or Paul Heroux take the plunge and boot Auchincloss.
I wasn’t living in the district at the time of the 2020 race, so I’m not entirely sure of the dynamics at play back then. I guess I’m more excited at just having anyone, or at least a somewhat viable candidate, as an option. Would love to hear more about her prior campaign from anyone in the know.
IN-SOS: love to see that massive figure for a key downballot race. We have slept on the importance of AG, Supreme Court, and SOS races for too long, and I’m glad the party has woken up to that reality post-January 6th. Need to stop the threats to democracy in these offices.
SoS is particularly important in Indiana because the order of parties on the ballot is determined by who won the election in each county in the last SoS election; studies have shown that ballot order does have an effect, though small.
"60% support “criminally prosecuting any ICE agent who kills someone,” reducing ICE’s size and funding at +11, but the most incredible stat is “keeping ICE in its current form” is ***10 points*** less popular than abolishing it entirely."
I want to reiterate the conventional political wisdom that it takes 2 weeks before voters fully process national events in polling. We might get to a majority support for abolishing ice at that point, the movement has been swift and large even before the murder heard round the country.
Lord, let's keep the far left away from our sloganeering, why is everything "abolish" to them. How about professionalize and get rid of the fat loser facists who joined for the easy paycheck.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) adds to the Republicans missing votes due to a health issue with his wife. Rep. Doug LaMalfa died last week and Rep. Jim Baird is recovering from a car accident. Now, Republicans only have 216 votes compared to Democrats' 213, a number expanding to 214 after a Texas election later this month.
A West-friendly puppet government will result in an authoritarian takeover. We already saw it with the first revolution. Here's hoping a functioning, independent democracy is established instead of the oligarchy Trump wants.
We have an incredibly strong slate of Senate candidates!
Question: What additional Senate candidates would you love to see recruited, and in which states?) Feel free to include people who have so far said they won’t run.) Here are a few of my wishes:
– Andrew Beshear in Kentucky. Our strongest card for this open seat!
– John Tester in Montana. I know. Who else has even a marginal chance?
– Laura Kelly in Kansas. I trust all the DB posters rooting for her to run.
– Maine? I’d like to see a strong alternative to Mills and Platner.
– Joe Manchin in West Virginia. Sadly, the best we can hope for.
– Do we want Tina Smith (MN) or Gary Peters (MI) to reconsider and run?
– Do Dems have anyone, declared or undeclared, with a chance in Florida?
– Oh, and I’d like to see Jasmine Crocket withdraw in Texas.
I'm hoping Laura Kelly reconsiders her decision not to run for Senate this year in KS. In a D-leaning midterm she could pull off an upset.
KY: Andy Beshear will lose as soon as he faces national polarization in a Senate race in deep red Kentucky. It would be a huge waste of money. There isn’t a legislature to override all of his vetoes.
MT: Jon Tester has ruled it out.
KS: It might be worth running Gov. Kelly in a blue-wave year.
WV: We don’t need to enrich that putrid guy. He won’t win anymore; polarization eventually catches up.
ME: One of Platner or Mills will be the nominee. Let’s wait and see. It's shaping up to be a blockbuster primary between a controversial left-wing populist and a moderate Governor.
MN and MI: Smith and Peters are not going to run.
FL:Democrats might have a chance in Florida if a Representative who gets redistricted out by DeSantis decides to run statewide.
TX:Crockett isn’t withdrawing.
What other than her idiotic views on the filibuster makes Mills "moderate"?
A very anti-labor record, opposition to red-flag laws, a weak stance against ICE, no support for universal health care, and the revocation of the executive order encouraging ICE cooperation just two weeks ago. I’m sure there’s more.
Remember that it was the labor unions who recruited Platner.
Also she killed a bill for tracking rape kits , leaving Maine as the only state without this. And while not on the liberal-moderate spectrum but especially relevant in the age of Epstein scandal, Collins would probably have a field day with attack ads on Mills pardon of a child sex predator who admitted he was guilty— here is a quote from her trying to evoke sympathy for him ““We certainly hope that the incident does not result in a devastating blow to his academic and professional career,” Janet Mills, who was then a state lawmaker, said in January 2002,”. https://www.newsbreak.com/bangor-daily-news-1696700/3770194479117-janet-mills-pardoned-a-man-she-defended-in-a-sexual-assault-case
What is the logic behind that as a policy choice???? Clearing backlogs of rape evidence seems like such an obvious thing to do?
Tester wants peace, and Beshear is working on another job opportunity. I think Laura Kelly could really make Roger Marshall squirm. He's one of the most extreme far-right Senators and completely useless to Kansas.
Maine has been problematic from the start. Collins will either get an opponent with plenty of baggage to exploit or another moderate woman in her 70s who recently praised her. We're going to sweat this one to the very end.
I love Jasmine Crockett. We need her voice in Congress and in the public sphere. But she's not winning Texas. I think she would struggle to win statewide in much bluer states like MN, MI, PA, etc. Is she seeing something others are not, or is the objective not necessarily to win the Senate race?
I don't think anyone is clamoring for Gary Peters to stay. He's continuing to vote with Republicans a lot (even more?) on his way out the door. Tina Smith has been great, so it's very sad to see her retire, but we have solid candidates in MN (and MI). I think the bigger worry with states like these is that most of the Democrats are clustered into one major city, which makes it easy for voter intimidation and suppression to have an effect on the state-wide race.
I have never heard of anyone by the name of Joe Manchin or this place called "Florida".
I think Crockett could win in Minnesota in a normal environment (Keith Ellison does), but not in any state to the right of it.
We do have some good candidates in many races.
I think a more valuable question is which leader with integrity could run in deep red states as an Independent or even first run as an anti-MAGA Republican and then run as an independent after the primary.
David French once wrote he considered running against Trump in 2016. Could he put TN in play?
For 2028, Utah Republicans are some of the least MAGA Republicans and Lee only got 53.2% of the vote last time. Who can replace McMullin.
Even a conservative Independent who voted with Democrats only a third or quarter of the time would be better than the cowed Republicans and MAGA Republicans who never buck the party.
Mike Lee is an asshole who is on record wanting to eliminate Social Security! He’s been credibly described as "Ted Cruz’s less-intelligent sidekick". I was really hoping Evan McMullin would replace him.
Lee also posted those two awful memes on Xitter mocking the Hortmans' murder last year, which he later deleted after public backlash.
Candidate filing closed in Kentucky last week, so Beshear is definitely not running. https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article314284209.html
Kansas with Kelly is the only one on that list worth the time or effort to persuade. Maybe Moscowitz if he’s drawn out in Florida.
Why is Schumer trying to stonewall Sage and Walls? It’s not your decision who faces Ashley Hinson, it’s Iowa voters.
Honestly it's the behind-the-scenes strongarming that annoys me the most. Either be public about it or don't do it. Behavior like this is (part of) why the party has such a low approval rating, imo.
Schumer better not pout if his wanted candidate loses the primary. He'll have to buck up and support whoever is the Democratic nominee.
The DSCC is not going to throw an election away because their preferred candidate didn't win the primary.
Still, I wish Schumer would stop pushing a preferred nominee. All three of these guys are solid and could flip that Senate seat blue.
Because Schumer and Gillibrand are control freaks
Didn't the DCCC get in trouble for doing shit like this with primary challengers back in 2018? Have they learned nothing?
Power is never given up; it has to be taken.
He tried to do that same for Angie Craig, Janet Mills and Haley Stevens which led to the Senate revolt.
Party control is over.
Josh Turek is my preferred candidate in Iowa but Schumer should stay out of the primary.
My question is why are they opposed to those two? I don't complain in the abstract about "meddling"; it could be crucial for a victory sometimes. But why are these two so much worse than Turek?
I think in their mind it isn’t so much that those other two are much worse. They think that Turek is that much better. Paralympic gold medalist who holds the reddest seat for Democrats in the legislature. He also went from a 6 vote 0.1% win out of 6,807 votes cast in 2022 in his first election to a 561 vote 5% win out of 11,208 votes cast in his first re-election campaign in 2024, a year obviously much worse nationally for the Democratic Party with far higher Republican voter turnout.
Hard not to argue with that background/resume being able to win a now red state. I also think Turek would be strongest, but ironically Schumer inserting himself into the primary I could see backfire spectacularly into making his chosen candidate lose the race from a “pox on the establishment” base vote if our party voters decide to go full tea party in 2026 primaries.
The other 2 candidates are basically untested with GOP/Trump voters who Democrats need to win a large chunk of in order to flip the Senate seat. State Senator Zach Wahls won both his elections with minimal (libertarian) opposition in 2018 winning 78-21 and no opposition in 2022. Nathan Sage has never faced voters before. Pretty obvious why DSCC/Schumer are backing Turek.
Worth mentioning that Wahls was elected Senate Minority Leader by our caucus, but left that post just 2 years in after he and the rest of our caucus disagreed on firing two longtime Democratic staffers. I take no position on which side was right on that issue, but abandoning your top leadership position and creating caucus drama in an already red difficult state to win leaves a bad taste in my mouth and those kinds of things can prevent the Democratic team from rowing in the same direction for 2026 over grudges/animosity behind the scenes, with which is a complete necessity to pull off an upset.
I think it’s moreso that Turek is perceived as stronger. He won a seat that not even Rob Sand could win in 2022.
I agree with Schumer’s assessment that Turek is probably the strongest candidate in Iowa, but the DSCC pressuring the other two is a bad look.
Sage is running as a populist but has a weak fundraising and gathered no endorsments or elite support like Platner or El-Sayed. He is out of the contention.
Wahls went viral for a hard hitting speech, as a teenager with lesbian moms, at the Iowa legislature after which he became an LGBTQ activist and later politician. He is also the former minority leader. He is a liberal associated with the Iowa Dem establishment.
Turek is a paraolympic champion who won a red seat. He has a moderate and populist underdog branding.
Laura Belin at Bleeding Heartland noted that Turek and Wahls have essential the same voting record and platforms.
Turek has an independent mind and is not an establishmentarian like Stevens or Craig. He would clearly be the strongest candidate but DSCC intervening could backfire.
It does seem like Turek has the best opportunity to win over those red leaning "independents" that have been voting republican lately, and we'll need those voters to have a chance to win in Iowa.
Exactly. Turek has zero baggage and an inspiring background which could appeal to them.
https://www.ourtownny.com/news/exclusive-health-activist-nina-schwalbe-enters-race-to-replace-congressman-nadler-YG5448212
NY-12: Health activist Nina Schwalbe is running. She joins a crowded Democratic primary that includes Micah Lasher, Cam Kasky, Jack Schlossberg, Alex Bores, George Conway, Alan Pardee, Jami Floyd and Matt Shurka.
We may be headed to somebody winning this primary with like 20% of the vote lol
Auchincloss and Goldman 2.0
I hope not.
Goldman should have switched to this race, i know he doesn't live here, but close enough.
"Elizabeth Warren’s Third Act
The Massachusetts senator could belatedly become what she always should have been."
https://archive.ph/GDrUp
"New: Sen. Elizabeth Warren lays out vision for a 'big tent,' telling Democrats not to cater to wealthy donors
In an unusual move, she calls out figures in the party she considers part of the problem — including the DSCC, Kyrsten Sinema and Reid Hoffman.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/elizabeth-warren-vision-big-tent-democratic-party-rcna253591"
https://x.com/sahilkapur/status/2010752711332086051?s=20
Fantastic. I particularly detest Hoffman and Gillibrand’s DSCC so Warren’s comments are welcome.
Question — Gillibrand has been discussed as a possible primary target before. Who could do it, in the event AOC goes for Schumer’s seat? Tish James will be too old by that point so I’m out of ideas.
Pat Ryan is further to the left than Gillibrand but not as lefty as AOC - he has a broad appeal in his district
I'm sure that Zohran Mamdani will be confronted with higher aspirations in the future, but he could run for re election as mayor in 2029, too.
I should add that Goldman and Torres (if they make it out of primaries) are potential statewide candidates, but probably not for a primary against Gillibrand
Zohran first needs to be a successful mayor.
Gillibrand is actually further to the left than Ryan.
Lander will get a lot of name recognition in his primary and is the favorite against Goldman. He can primary Gillibrand.
FL-04: Neal Dunn (R) not seeking re-election in his 59-41 Trump seat.
https://www.wjhg.com/2026/01/13/representative-neal-dunn-will-not-be-seeking-re-election/
Does he see bad polling too? Fingers crossed.
Thought he was a lock on that seat. He is pretty old
Do Dems have a good candidate for this district?
Maybe former rep Al Lawson?
Or former rep Gwen Graham
The first domino falls. Definitely a seat Democrats should target, only on the outskirts of competitiveness, but they can sometimes fall in a wave, ala OK-05 Kendra Horn 2018.
MA-4: Word is Ihssane Leckey (D) is considering a primary challenge to the noxious Rep. Auchincloss. Love to see her or Paul Heroux take the plunge and boot Auchincloss.
https://www.politico.com/massachusettsplaybook
I still feel bad about this primary. The forbidden topic divided the Squad and progressive organizations badly and stopped them from coalescing.
Didn't Leckey face controversies which led to her surge ending?
I wasn’t living in the district at the time of the 2020 race, so I’m not entirely sure of the dynamics at play back then. I guess I’m more excited at just having anyone, or at least a somewhat viable candidate, as an option. Would love to hear more about her prior campaign from anyone in the know.
IN-SOS: love to see that massive figure for a key downballot race. We have slept on the importance of AG, Supreme Court, and SOS races for too long, and I’m glad the party has woken up to that reality post-January 6th. Need to stop the threats to democracy in these offices.
SoS is particularly important in Indiana because the order of parties on the ballot is determined by who won the election in each county in the last SoS election; studies have shown that ballot order does have an effect, though small.
Abolish ICE at -2 in YouGov
"60% support “criminally prosecuting any ICE agent who kills someone,” reducing ICE’s size and funding at +11, but the most incredible stat is “keeping ICE in its current form” is ***10 points*** less popular than abolishing it entirely."
https://x.com/isaiah_bb/status/2010888416129327450
I want to reiterate the conventional political wisdom that it takes 2 weeks before voters fully process national events in polling. We might get to a majority support for abolishing ice at that point, the movement has been swift and large even before the murder heard round the country.
Lord, let's keep the far left away from our sloganeering, why is everything "abolish" to them. How about professionalize and get rid of the fat loser facists who joined for the easy paycheck.
Don't think it's the far left driving poll numbers as we see above.
https://bsky.app/profile/premthakker.bsky.social/post/3mccrtfisu22e
Is this the same poll? Prem saying Abolish is plus 3 here
https://x.com/RepVanOrden/status/2010823537385259050?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) adds to the Republicans missing votes due to a health issue with his wife. Rep. Doug LaMalfa died last week and Rep. Jim Baird is recovering from a car accident. Now, Republicans only have 216 votes compared to Democrats' 213, a number expanding to 214 after a Texas election later this month.
Trump has terminated negotiations with Iran and chosen instead to help the protesters.
https://x.com/Faytuks/status/2011088278209106379
He can't help Iranian protesters if he doesn't treat our protesters properly.
If he ends the Islamic Republic, I'll give him credit for that even though he is a fascist.
A West-friendly puppet government will result in an authoritarian takeover. We already saw it with the first revolution. Here's hoping a functioning, independent democracy is established instead of the oligarchy Trump wants.
Establishment of a constitutional monarchy like the UK could be put on a popular ballot.
Reza has no popular support in the country, and a new 21st-century constitutional monarchy seems a bit regressive.
He actually kinda has some support as per reporting right now. Without him, the protests wouldn’t sustain.