House Democrats’ campaign arm takes sides in contentious primaries key to winning midterms

By Patrick Svitek, CNN

(CNN) — The House Democratic campaign arm on Monday inflamed ongoing tensions over the influence of party leadership by taking sides in several competitive primaries for battleground House seats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee waded in by announcing its latest round of “Red to Blue” candidates, a designation that is tantamount to an endorsement.

While Democrats are in a strong position to capture the House majority in November, the batch of endorsements shows that the DCCC is not willing to take chances on who the party nominates in some of the most competitive districts.

But Democrats are already squabbling over the involvement of party leaders, a debate that reached a climax last week when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s preferred candidate in Maine, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign. Mills made way for veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner, a progressive favorite, despite leadership concerns about his history of inflammatory online posts and a tattoo linked to Nazi imagery that he has had covered up.

“Somehow, Washington DC still hasn’t realized that in Maine we make our own decisions about who represents us,” said Jordan Wood, whose primary opponent, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, won the DCCC’s backing for an open seat in Maine’s 2nd District. Wood added that the primary will be decided by Maine residents and not a “broken and corrupt political establishment.”

In California’s 22nd Congressional District, where Republican Rep. David Valadao is seeking reelection, the DCCC backed moderate state Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains over Randy Villegas, a political newcomer. Villegas has raised more money than Bains and earned endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other high-profile progressives.

“It is undemocratic to see DC elites putting their thumb on the scale in this race,” Villegas said in a statement.

The DCCC’s decision to get involved in California’s 22nd District proved especially controversial Monday. Villegas has emerged as a favorite of national progressive groups, and one of them, the Working Families Party, said in a statement that Democratic leaders had “hit the panic button” by signaling support for Bains.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s political arm has also endorsed Villegas. The head of the caucus’ political arm, Rep. Linda Sánchez of California, said in a statement that Latino candidates are “not a small factor” in the fight for the House majority and pledged to support Villegas and Carol Obando-Derstine in Pennsylvania’s 7th District — another candidate the DCCC snubbed Monday for Bob Brooks — “every step of the way through their primaries.”

In another notable intervention, the DCCC aligned with the Hispanic Caucus’ political arm by backing former TV journalist Marlene Galán-Woods in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, where there is an open seat. Her opponents include Amish Shah, a doctor who beat her in the 2024 primary for the seat and went on to lose the general election by 4 percentage points.

Asked about the criticism, a DCCC spokesperson pointed to an earlier statement from its chairwoman, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state.

“These candidates will win because they are authentic, independent-minded leaders who are rooted in their communities, demonstrating they have what it takes to win and fight to make life more affordable for hardworking families,” DelBene said.

Republicans reveled in the fresh drama among Democrats.

“Their disastrous primaries have turned into a far-left free-for-all, and national Democrats stepping in will only deepen the chaos and alienate their far-left base,” Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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