The DCCC added a number of Democrats facing primary fights to its ‘Red to Blue’ list of preferred candidates, prompting swift backlash
Democratic House candidates and lawmakers are lashing out after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced its support for seven candidates who are involved in primary races.
The committee added eight new members to its “Red to Blue” list, a group of House candidates it provides with extra resources as they attempt to flip districts held by Republicans. All but one of those candidates are currently involved in Democratic primary races. In California’s 22nd Congressional District, for example, the committee backed state legislator Jasmeet Bains over educator Randy Villegas. In Pennsylvania’s Seventh Congressional District, the DCCC chose firefighter Bob Brooks over energy executive Carol Obando-Derstine. The moves prompted Rep. Linda Sánchez (D., Calif.), who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’s BOLD PAC, to accuse the committee of overlooking “Latino voters and candidates.”
“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.”
Villegas also took aim at the DCCC, calling it “undemocratic to see DC elites putting their thumb on the scale in this race.”
“This district deserves a representative that will not flip flop on issues, one that shows up to take votes, one that is willing to be seen in our communities, and that is not Jasmeet Bains,” he said. “Voters have the power to choose who represents our community, not DC elites and corporate interests.”
Prominent members of the Democratic Party’s activist wing issued similar statements. The Working Families Party said the DCCC chose in Bains a “candidate who will bend to party leadership and its corporate donors.” Left-wing activist David Hogg, who briefly served as Democratic National Committee vice chair before being ousted over his pledge to support primary challenges to incumbent Democrats, accused the “Democratic establishment” of “wasting resources in primaries to prop up weak candidates.”
“Spending critical dollars on Bains … is a huge miss from the DCCC,” he said.
The primary endorsements could splinter the Democratic Party in House seats it will need to win to flip control of the lower chamber in November. It could also energize left-wing candidates like Villegas. Just 18 percent of voters approve of the way congressional Democrats are handling their job, according to a December Quinnipiac University poll, meaning any association with party leadership in Washington, D.C., could be a drag on a primary candidate rather than a boost.
DCCC spokesman Viet Shelton told the Free Beacon in a statement that the committee believes its “Red to Blue” picks are likeliest to win their districts’ general elections.
“It’s imperative that Democrats must take back the House to hold Trump accountable and deliver on what truly matters to voters—lower costs and affordable health care,” Shelton said. “That’s why we are proud to announce our latest round of Red to Blue candidates who span the ideological spectrum, are authentic voices in their districts, and are best positioned to win in November.”
The committee’s endorsement in Pennsylvania puts it in line with Josh Shapiro, who is also backing Brooks in the state’s seventh district. Brooks sparked controversy after he said last week that Shapiro asked his union to back a Republican for state treasurer in 2024 because the Democrat in the race publicly opposed Shapiro as a running mate for former vice president Kamala Harris. Shapiro denied the claim, and Brooks later said he “misspoke and made an inaccurate comment.”
Obando-Derstine issued her own statement after the DCCC added Brooks to its list.
“The establishment is pushing Bob Brooks — a candidate who has repeatedly endorsed election deniers, downplayed the deadliest attack on the Latino community in modern U.S. history and shown he’s willing to lie to voters,” Obando-Derstine said.
Her comment about Brooks downplaying an attack appears to refer to a post he shared on Facebook a day after a self-described white supremacist killed 23 and injured 22 others in a shooting at an El Paso Walmart in 2019. Brooks’s post stated that “the problem is not guns” and “included the logo of a right-wing, anti-government organization,” the Washington Post reported last month.
Ryan Crosswell, another Brooks opponent in the Democratic primary, said the DCCC’s pick is an example of why the party establishment is “hated.”
“They’ve thrown their support behind the one candidate who has missed the most events, avoided the most questions, has a pending fraud lawsuit, and threw the governor under the bus when asked about his own endorsement of an election denier,” Crosswell said.
The DCCC’s endorsements of other candidates also sparked furious reactions. In Colorado’s Fifth Congressional District, a seat held by Republican Rep. Jeff Crank, the group picked Jessica Killin, a U.S. Army veteran who then worked as an executive for USAA. Opponent Joe Reagan said the DCCC is “backing a Washington insider who hasn’t lived here in 20 years.”
The most recent additions to the “Red to Blue” program are not the first to have drawn condemnation from the left wing of the Democratic Party. In February, when the DCCC announced a dozen endorsements, a group of 17 Democratic primary candidates released a joint statement condemning the organization.
“Primaries are not an inconvenience, they are the foundation of democratic legitimacy,” those candidates said. “Constituents deserve the opportunity to compare ideas, hear open debate, and decide for themselves who will represent them rather than being told who to vote for.”
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