Democrats set themselves up for year of primaries in 2026

Progressives are vowing to run primary challenges against Democrats who do not do enough to stand up to President Trump and the GOP, an effort that is intensifying after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) decision to provide votes to advance a GOP funding bill last week.

The progressives are increasingly frustrated with the current leadership of the party and with the messaging coming from Democrats in general. And the spending bill has spurred furious talk that a new crop of leaders should emerge.

“I’ve always believed that competition and primaries are healthy,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told The Hill. “No one is entitled to their seat. Voters want change and are fed up with the old guard in American politics.

“I expect many new generation leaders to run for the House and Senate in 2026 and 2028,” Khanna said. “Democracy depends on renewal.”

On the heels of his support for the funding bill, Schumer has been hit with the most backlash. Within hours of his announcement that he would support advancing the GOP-backed bill, which needed 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles, progressives were encouraging Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to take on Schumer when he’s up for reelection in 2028.

But the sentiment isn’t just related to Schumer and Ocasio-Cortez, according to several party operatives who are privy to the conversations being had. There’s a growing sentiment that a number of Democratic incumbents don’t suit the moment the party is facing against Trump.

Amanda Litman, the founder of the organization Run for Something, has also heard from a handful of younger Democrats who are looking to jump into competitive primary races.

While Litman’s organization doesn’t handle congressional races, on Friday — the day the Senate approved the GOP funding bill following Schumer’s announcement — there was a 200 percent increase in potential candidates looking to run for office, she said.

Litman described a frustration brewing particularly among a young set of Democrats. “They’re looking at the last two months and beyond and they want to see leaders who define and reflect their outrage,” she said.

“If Democracy is literally under attack, act like it,” Litman added.

A CNN poll on Sunday firmly backed that sentiment. The survey showed that the Democratic Party’s favorability rating is at 29 percent, a record low in CNN polling dating back to 1992. The poll shows a significant drop of 20 points since January 2021, when Trump left office following his first term.

Since Democrats lost the election in November, they have sought to rebuild their party, homing in on messaging and strengthening their ground game. But they have also been dissatisfied with the way their party has handled Trump’s flurry of executive orders and his decision to completely restructure the federal government.

“There's a certain school of thought among Democrats right now that a lot of people in our party don't get the moment we're in and they don't get the fight,” said one prominent Democratic strategist.

The strategist and others predicted a wave of newcomers, including fired federal workers, who will pose a primary challenge to incumbents.

“I do think thematically you could see a surge of people who seem unseen in the moment,” the strategist said. “The appetite now is can somebody fight? People want to see folks show some spunk and if you're not willing to do it, people are going to demand that they get out of the way.”

Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons said voters are “looking for leadership and are open to anyone who will offer it.”

“The ground is fertile,” Simmons said. Still, pointing to a lack of resources from the donor class, he added, “I don’t know how much rain there will be.”

Simmons said Democratic donors — who have been reluctant to write big-dollar checks — are currently focused on Trump and how to keep some programs alive that the president is looking to slash.

“I just don’t know how much money there will be for primaries,” Simmons said.

Two top Democratic donors backed that sentiment.

“There’s just not that much money going around for new faces,” said one longtime Democratic donor.

At the same time, Litman disputed those claims. Money in politics, she said, always goes up.

“Past is prologue here,” she said.

Not only that, she said, but the candidates who run will be able to raise grassroots donations “in a way that will be more efficient.”

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