Democratic divisions over 2026 strategy spill into the open

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DEMOCRATS ARE GRAPPLING with internal divisions as primary season gets underway ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

David Hogg, a vice chairman at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is facing pushback over his group Leaders We Deserve, which says it will spend $20 million to back primary challenges against Democratic incumbents it believes are either "too old" or too ineffective to take on President Trump.

On Thursday, newly-elected DNC chairman Ken Martin drew a red line, saying Hogg must either drop his primary efforts or step aside from his position with the DNC.

“No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election,” Martin told reporters on a press call.

“As I’ve said to him — if you want to challenge incumbents, you’re free to do that, just not as an officer of the DNC because our job is to be neutral arbiters,” Martin continued. “This is not about shielding incumbents or boosting challengers. It’s about voters’ trust in the party.”

Martin’s press call was ostensibly about announcing new investments the DNC will make at the state level to boost Democrats running for office. The national committee will make a $1 million investment in state parties every month as part of their “Organize Everywhere, Win Everywhere” plan.

“I’m done with Democrats myopically focusing on just a few battleground states every few years,” Martin said. 

Hogg, a 25-year-old gun control advocate and survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, has cut a high profile in the media as he pushes Democrats to elect more progressives.

Hogg told The Washington Post on Thursday he has a list of the Democratic lawmakers he wants to oust, but he's not ready to name names.

“There are certainly some who are failing to meet the moment and know it’s time for them not to seek reelection," Hogg said. "Whether that’s because they’re too old, for example, or if that’s just because they aren’t able to meet it. Because frankly, unfortunately, sucking is something that is not limited to age.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has vowed to back every member of his caucus, telling ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that he’s “standing behind every single Democratic incumbent, from the most progressive to the most centrist and all points in between.”

As the minority party in both chambers, Democrats have struggled to unite on a consistent message or strategy to combat Trump in his second term.

There has been enormous frustration on the left over the Democrats’ perceived propensity to back aging establishment figures in congressional leadership fights and presidential primaries, underscored by former President Biden dropping out of the 2024 election and tapping former Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.

One bright spot for Democrats in Trump’s second term has been the “anti-oligarchy” rallies held in red districts by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), whose brand of leftwing populism has generated enormous enthusiasm among grassroots liberals.

“She’s going to run and her message of economic populism is more powerful than people are giving her credit for,” conservative commentator Meghan McCain said of Ocasio-Cortez.

DEM RETIREMENTS IN FOCUS

Some aging Democrats are proactively stepping aside.

This week, Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the 80-year old Democratic whip in the Senate, announced his retirement.

"You want to leave when you can still walk out the door," Durbin said.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), 80, will announce her decision on retirement early next month, according to her office.

Durbin’s retirement has set off a heated primary to be the next senator from Illinois, as well competition to be the Democratic whip in the Senate.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports on the internal Senate dynamics and jockeying that is already underway to be the next No. 2 member of Senate Democratic leadership.