The Scoop
The House Democratic campaign arm’s endorsements in two competitive primaries are aggravating some in the party who see favoritism at work.
BOLD PAC, the campaign committee of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told Semafor that Democrats would have to work to earn Latino voters’ trust after bypassing their preferred candidates in districts with substantial Latino populations.
The Hispanic Caucus’ PAC would continue to back their two preferred candidates who were passed over Monday by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, its chair said in a statement. The two snubbed Democrats are Randy Villegas of California and Carol Obando-Derstine of Pennsylvania.
“Latino voters and candidates — like Randy and Carol — are not a small factor in the fight for the House majority; they are central to it,” said BOLD PAC Chair Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif.
“The Democratic Party has clearly made progress earning Latino trust, but we still have a long way to go, and we will be with Randy and Carol every step of the way through their primaries,” she added, subtly alluding to President Donald Trump’s inroads with Latino voters in 2024.
Villegas, who has support from the party’s progressive wing, said in a statement that it was “undemocratic to see DC elites putting their thumb on the scale in this race.”
The DCCC rolled out eight new “red to blue” candidates Monday who will receive national support in districts the party believes it can flip this fall. DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said in a statement that the candidates “represent the strength of our people-first message and the broad appeal of our top-tier candidates.”
In Pennsylvania, the DCCC backed Bob Brooks, who also earned the support of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and other members of the congressional delegation, and in California, the DCCC nod went to assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, who carved out a more centrist lane in the primary.
Know More
Democrats have grappled with whether to intervene in contested primaries, fearing that expensive, bruising races could hurt their general election chances. The endorsement jockeying has heated up faster in the Senate, but the resulting intraparty intrigue over primaries is arguably higher on that side of the Capitol than in the House.
But there’s precedent for the DCCC’s involvement, including in the California district, where the campaign arm backed a candidate in 2024 to prevent a lockout under the state’s top-two system. And the DCCC hadn’t ruled out jumping into primaries this cycle.
Still, Monday’s endorsements didn’t cut entirely cleanly against demographic or factional lines.
The House Democratic campaign arm endorsed Johnny Garcia, also a BOLD PAC-endorsed candidate, in Texas’ 35th Congressional District, where there’s a competitive runoff election at the end of May.
In addition, Brooks secured the DCCC’s backing Monday after also winning over the progressive Working Families Party — which railed against the California endorsement as the “establishment” not backing the “stronger candidate, but the candidate who will bend to party leadership and its corporate donors.”
Notable
- Brooks told supporters Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro assisted a Republican state treasurer candidate after the Democratic candidate criticized him, Axios reported, though he said he misspoke.