Young Democrats dissatisfied with the status quo are launching a torrent of primary challenges against longtime Democratic lawmakers.
Frustration over how the party has responded to Donald Trump is fueling the fire, but young Democrats also see party elders as out of touch with the challenges Americans face and warn that without change, Democrats will continue to rack up losses.
There are more than 80 House members who are currently 70 or older, an unprecedented number. The majority of them are Democrats.
At the same time, a record low 21 percent of voters approve of the way Democrats in Congress are handling their job. Only 41 percent of Democrats approve of the party’s performance, Quinnipiac found.
While Democrats have faced primary challengers before, there has been an early boiling point ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Harry Jarin, 35, is one of the latest Democrats to mount a challenge. The Maryland volunteer firefighter announced his bid against former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, 85, and has made age a central focus of his bid.
“I think a lot of older establishment Democrats are just not psychologically prepared to deal with a fascist administration that clearly has no respect for the rule of law,” he told the Daily Beast. “I think a lot of the rules and the systems they’ve been used to in Congress for 30 or 40 years have totally broken down, and they’re not really sure what to do next.”
Jarin argued Congress is not functioning as an institution and an equal branch of government. He said the Democratic Party has forgotten how to “do politics and convince people to join our side.”
While older Democrats stepped aside to help usher in the next generation of House leadership, they remain powerful in the halls of Congress. Hoyer is not the only one now being challenged.
Saikat Chakrabarti, 39, is running against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and is calling for the party to reject its “extreme seniority culture.”
“The main reason why Republicans are running circles around the Dems is that they are so much younger and newer,” said Chakrabarti, who served as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff. “It’s not just age. The new blood that’s always coming into the GOP ranks is more in touch with the world as it is, with social media and other new media.”
Chakrabarti said part of what pushed him to run was shock over Pelosi’s response to Trump’s win.
“In interviews, she was saying that the Democrats hadn’t done anything wrong and didn’t need to change,” Chakrabarti said.
The final straw, however, was Pelosi’s intervention in the race to lead the powerful House Oversight Committee. Pelosi supported late Rep. Gerry Connolly, who passed away from cancer last month, over Ocasio-Cortez. He said that’s when he realized Pelosi “is going to keep holding Democrats back for as long as she possibly can.”
Chakrabarti believes San Francisco voters are ready for change, but is under no illusion that running against a former Speaker is an uphill fight. At the same time, he said the Democratic Party is in denial when it comes to acknowledging his challenge.
“For me, obviously, it will be great if they stay in that mode all the way until Election Day. That’s exactly what Joe Crowley did when AOC beat him in 2018,” Chakrabarti, who managed her 2018 upset campaign, said.
Progressive Kat Abughazaleh, 26, launched a bid against Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 81, in Illinois earlier this year before the congresswoman said she would not seek another term after more than 25 years in Congress.
Abughazaleh said there has been a lack of technology and communications “literacy” in the party, but older lawmakers have been clinging to an old playbook.
President Biden’s age and ability in 2024 became a liability for the entire party. Since January, three Democratic House members have passed away in office, further fueling discussions.
More Democrats are becoming willing to talk about the age issue and even use it to their advantage. Governor Gavin Newsom did not hold back this week in going after Trump’s mental fitness. The president will be 79 on Saturday.
While age and frustration have driven some challenges, young Democrats are exasperated with the party’s lack of vision and response to Trump’s second term.
“We can’t just be saying, let’s go back to normal. Let’s go back to the old days because the status quo isn’t working for the vast majority of Americans,” Abughazaleh said.
In Indianapolis, George Hornedo, 34, launched a bid against Rep. Andre Carson, who has served since 2008, for similar reasons.
“This chaos is going to bring about the opportunity to rebuild,” he said of the party. “The question then becomes, do we rebuild back to what we knew, which clearly was not sufficiently meeting and serving the needs of people, or are we going to have the imagination to think about what can be?”
Democratic primary challengers have said that it does not matter which wing of the party the concerns are being raised by. One of the most common issues raised is affordability, from housing to health care.
Hornedo has accused the congressman of not being visible. Part of his strategy has been to show up across the community. He said the energy on the ground has been significantly stronger than even he anticipated.
“I’m just focused on where the people are, he said. ”What I consistently hear is, thank you for coming. Thank you for showing interest.”
In Florida, Elijah Manley announced he would take on Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick in February. Unlike others facing challenges, the congresswoman has only served since 2022, but has been embroiled in an ethics investigation.
Manley, a community organizer, ultimately decided to jump into the race because of Trump. He recalled House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggesting there wasn’t a plan to take on the president as he prepared for a second term.
“We had all of this time to think about how we were going to fight back against Donald Trump, and we’re figuring out in January of 2025, and they were going to put together a task force,” Manley vented.
He called it the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and is pushing for the party to fight back harder.
“It’s not even an ideological thing. It’s not a progressive versus moderate versus centrist. Some people want to frame it that way,” he said. “It’s really just that people from all sectors of the Democratic Party are just fed up and upset with the inaction of the Democratic Party.”
Young Democrats are seeing a showing of support as the party has struggled in its response to Trump and are breaking through.
“I think we need to be able to put a fresh face to the Democratic Party, both literally and figuratively,” said Amanda Litman, founder of ‘Run for Something’.
While her group focuses on helping progressives in local races, it has served as a pipeline for federal office seekers. She said there is a surge in people interested in running, and young people are no longer willing to wait their turn.
“I think that older leaders, many of them have done incredible legacies of leadership,” Litman said. “Many of them haven’t faced a challenger in years or decades. They haven’t had to really campaign. Their lived experience is out of touch with what many Americans are.”
Young Democratic challengers said the biggest obstacle is funding and name recognition.
“I think it’s really hard to beat an incumbent,” said Litman. “They have all the benefits of incumbency, which include political relationships, fundraising, the bully pulpit.”
It is no wonder that young activists like David Hogg, who announced a $20 million investment to challenge Democratic incumbents, split the party. Critics argue the money should be spent to help flip battleground seats, not in blue districts, but challengers disagree.
“I realized that this is a safe seat, but most seats in Congress are,” said Jarin. “Most seats in Congress are gerrymandered to be safe seats. That makes it even more important for members of Congress that are in these safe seats to be effective communicators for our party to help us win other competitive seats.”
He gets why many organizations focus on battleground races, but said it doesn’t address the larger problem that the Democratic Party is struggling.
Manley argued that primaries are not just about Democrats but democracy.
“People should be able to choose who they want to represent them. It makes our party stronger,” he said. “It’s my opinion that we need more primaries.”
With more than six months until the first primaries, Manley may well get his wish.
The post Frustrated Young Democrats Are Declaring War on the Old Guard Like Never Before appeared first on The Daily Beast.
