{"id":4282,"date":"2026-07-12T11:43:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T06:43:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4282"},"modified":"2026-07-12T11:43:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T06:43:23","slug":"inside-the-growing-firestorm-over-house-democrats-meddling-in-their-own-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4282","title":{"rendered":"Inside the growing firestorm over House Democrats&#039; meddling in their own primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/i6_X5rKvdavg55oZJZtXCPSy0QA=\/0x809:7759x5173\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/08\/1783530624366.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/20\/democrats-primary-dccc-maine-dunlap-jeffries-2026\" target=\"_blank\">Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee<\/a> is baffling fellow Democrats by pouring money into yet another competitive House primary \u2014\u00a0this time in Arizona.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>The DCCC has racked up a spotty record in its attempts to intervene in Democratic primaries this cycle, leading some House Democrats to question why they&#8217;re paying dues to the campaign committee.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who previously criticized the DCCC for intervening in California, told Axios she is &#8220;frustrated&#8221; to see the practice in her own backyard.<\/li>\n<li>Another House Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to criticize leadership, told Axios, &#8220;The DCCC&#8217;s endorsement, I think, hurts the message.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>State of play: <\/strong>Two primary candidates in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/19\/maine-2-primary-result-baldacci-wood-dunlap-dccc\" target=\"_blank\">California and Maine<\/a> backed by the DCCC&#8217;s endorsements and ad spending have already lost their races.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The group&#8217;s big success was in Texas&#8217; 35th District primary, in which DCCC-supported sheriff&#8217;s deputy Johnny Garcia beat sex therapist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/05\/27\/maureen-galindo-house-primary-texas\" target=\"_blank\">Maureen Galindo<\/a>, who had come under fire for antisemitic comments.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;If someone has the DCCC&#8217;s endorsement, I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s very helpful for them. It may even work against them,&#8221; said the House Democrat who spoke on the condition of anonymity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>The DCCC is running a $200,000 joint ad buy with Marlene Gal\u00e1n-Woods in Arizona&#8217;s 1st District, its largest primary investment to date, according to ad-tracking firm AdImpact.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/platform.adimpact.com\/viewer\/f973aefe-af4b-42a2-b4e9-059a3ac19ef2\" target=\"_blank\">ad<\/a> states: &#8220;We need Democrats willing to actually fight for us, courageous leaders who are going to stand up against MAGA Republicans, leaders like Marlene Gal\u00e1n-Woods.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The former journalist and widow of Republican former state Attorney General Grant Woods faces a crowded Democratic primary field, including former state Rep. Amish Shah, the nominee for the seat in 2024.<\/li>\n<li>The highly competitive, Phoenix-based battleground seat is currently held by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), who is retiring to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/phoenix\/2025\/09\/30\/schweikert-arizona-governor-race-2026\" target=\"_blank\">run for governor<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>In May, the DCCC added Gal\u00e1n-Woods to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/05\/26\/democrats-house-races-2026-galindo-villegas-bains\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;Red to Blue&#8221; program<\/a>, which provides resources to Democrats running in GOP-held or open House seats.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Typically, the program helps general election candidates, but this year the DCCC is taking a more aggressive approach and getting involved in primaries as well.<\/li>\n<li>The strategy has yielded lackluster results, however, with DCCC-endorsed Jasmeet Bains in California&#8217;s 22nd District and Joe Baldacci in Maine&#8217;s 2nd losing to more progressive primary opponents.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>&#8220;I get the argument that you want to back the person you think can beat the Republican, but unless the other candidate is a DINO [Democrat in name only], I think they need to stay out,&#8221; said Grijalva.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Former Arizona state Sen. Sean Bowie told Axios he was &#8220;surprised&#8221; the DCCC threw its support behind Gal\u00e1n-Woods, noting that she is a former Republican and that Shah beat her for the nomination two years earlier.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;It seems like Amish has more grassroots support just at the local level &#8230; whereas Marlene seems like it&#8217;s much more just air support coming in from D.C.,&#8221; Bowie said. &#8220;Why her over someone like Amish?&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re hearing: <\/strong>There is lingering resentment between the DCCC and Shah over strategic decisions he made in 2024, several Democratic sources told Axios.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The DCCC found Shah difficult to work with, chafed at his preference for door-knocking over making fundraising calls, and was unhappy with his refusal to run negative ads, the sources said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Shah campaign spokesperson<\/strong> Colin Lauderdale told Axios that Shah is &#8220;well-liked in this district because he shows up and listens.&#8221; <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He said it shows how out of touch party insiders are that they would &#8220;attack Amish for taking the time to talk to voters and hear their concerns,&#8221; also noting that Shah raised $4.9 million for the general election in 2024.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Primaries should be decided by Democratic voters, not D.C. insiders trying to put their thumb on the scales,&#8221; Lauderdale said of DCCC&#8217;s decision to back Gal\u00e1n-Woods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The other side: <\/strong>The DCCC is &#8220;hyperfocused on winning general elections,&#8221; Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) told us, adding that its &#8220;decisions are all focused in on helping Democrats win the majority in this upcoming election.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stanton noted Arizona&#8217;s 1st District is &#8220;a must-win seat to win the majority&#8221; and that &#8220;regardless of who wins the primary, they&#8217;re going to have massive support from DCCC to win this critical seat.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The DCCC referred Axios to a past statement by its chair, Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.), praising Gal\u00e1n-Woods as a &#8220;trusted voice who spent 20 years in broadcast journalism speaking truth to power&#8221; and &#8220;the common-sense fighter Arizonans deserve.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Between the lines: <\/strong>The House Democrat who spoke on the condition of anonymity predicted that a $200,000 ad buy probably doesn&#8217;t offset the PR cost of tethering a candidate to the hated party establishment.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;I&#8217;m seeing what everyone else is seeing, which is an anti-D.C., anti-establishment wave in Democratic primaries. Voters are upset with Democratic leadership,&#8221; the lawmaker said.<\/li>\n<li>Hundreds of thousands of dollars in support is &#8220;meaningful to a good candidate who&#8217;s struggling with fundraising, but that&#8217;s not what&#8217;s happening in some of these races. You just need to have <em>enough<\/em> money,&#8221; they added.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is baffling fellow Democrats by pouring money into yet another competitive House primary \u2014\u00a0this time in Arizona. Why it matters: The DCCC has racked up a spotty record in its attempts to intervene in Democratic primaries this cycle, leading some House Democrats to question why they&#8217;re paying dues to the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/i6_X5rKvdavg55oZJZtXCPSy0QA=\/0x809:7759x5173\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/08\/1783530624366.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}