Dem
47
GOP
53
Democrats have been pretty united this year. Hatred of Donald Trump is definitely a unifying principle. That unity is about to end. DNC Vice Chair David Hogg, a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, only made the constitutionally mandated minimum age to serve in the House 2 weeks ago. He is not running for the House, though, but he is the founder of the group Leaders We Deserve, which is hoping to spend $20 million to replace older moderate Democrats with younger progressive Democrats (mostly in deep-blue districts that no Republican could win, so they are not risking seats).
Many older House members are furious that a leader of the Democratic Party is going to actively try to defeat incumbent Democrats. In the past, the DNC has always been neutral in primaries. DNC Chairman Ken Martin has given Hogg an ultimatum: Either stop trying to defeat incumbent Democrats or give up your leadership position. You can't be a party leader while simultaneously trying to unseat House Democrats.
In some cases, Hogg has insurgent candidates lined up already. This graphic shows the age difference between the challenger and the incumbent:
Except for Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) in NJ-06, none of the districts are in danger, no matter who the nominee is. Hogg's argument for rejuvenating the party is that young voters are furious at the party leadership for passively accepting Trump and not fighting him every minute of the day and night. He believes they will turn out in great numbers given the right candidate. His model, of course, is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) defeating Joe Crowley in the 2018 primary.
All of the challengers are newbies and will have to demonstrate that they can raise large amounts of money. They will also have to overcome the entire Democratic congressional leadership, which is backing every incumbent. If they do succeed in raising big bucks, that might convince outgunned incumbents to bow out gracefully. Missing from the Axios chart is Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) who is 80, and who has been challenged by TikToker Kat Abughazaleh (26) in the D+19 district. Abughazaleh raised $379,000 in 8 days. Schakowsky is expected to announce her retirement next week. (V)