All the Members of Congress Who Have Lost Their Primaries in 2020 So Far, and Why
Amber Phillips, Washington Post, August 5, 2020
1. [William Lacy] Clay: Served in Congress for 19 years. Major factor in his loss was allegations that he was out of touch with the Black Lives Matter movement.
This dramatic primary played out in arguably the birthplace of the modern anti-police brutality movement: Ferguson, Mo. The defining difference between Clay and his successful primary challenger, Cori Bush, is that Bush made her name in the community during those 2014 protests about Michael Brown’s death. During her campaign, she talked vividly about getting tear gassed during protests this summer after George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis police custody, reports The Washington Post’s David Weigel. She didn’t mince words accusing Clay, from a well-known political family in the area, of being distant from these protests. She also contracted the coronavirus, which put her at the center of several issues plaguing Black Americans this summer.
Clay, somewhat confusingly, tried to argue that Bush’s attacks on him were racist. (Both are Black.) “The easy, racist way to lay it out is, ‘Look at Clay — what has he done for his district?’ I fight for that district every single day,” Clay said.
2. [Steve] Watkins: Served in Congress for less than two years. Major factor in his loss was his charges of voting illegally and the Republican establishment opposing him.
It’s tough for even well-established members of Congress charged with crimes to hang on to their jobs. {snip}
{snip}
3. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.): Served in Congress 31 years. Major factor in his loss was a battle over generation and race in a changing district.
This Democratic primary in the Bronx and surrounding suburbs was probably the closest replica to the big win in 2018 by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.): A younger, first-time politician and person of color ousts one of the most powerful House Democrats in Congress, a White man, by arguing they’re out of touch with the district’s diverse population.
{snip}
That the primary took place in the middle of widespread Black Lives Matter protests and a pandemic that is disproportionately affecting Black and Brown Americans also elevated Bowman’s profile.
Engel’s loss underscored establishment Democrats’ fear when Ocasio-Cortez kicked out the No. 4 House Democrat in 2018: Even powerful members of Congress, especially those representing majority-minority districts, can lose to a primary challenger from the left.
{snip}
4. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.): Served in Congress 15 years. Major factor in his loss was his opposition to abortion as a Democrat.
Lipinski is one of the last antiabortion Democrats in Congress. In March, he was successfully challenged by an equally outspoken supporter of abortion rights, {snip}
{snip}
5. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa): Served in Congress 17 years. Major factor in his loss was his controversial comments about white supremacy.
{snip}
But what changed for King this time was how he lost the backing of his fellow House Republicans over his comments defending white nationalism. {snip}
{snip}
6. Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.). Served in Congress for less than two years. Major factor in his loss was his officiating of a same-sex wedding.
The 2019 wedding of two campaign volunteers that he officiated wasn’t the only reason conservatives targeted Riggleman, but it was the driving one. Riggleman was endorsed by President Trump, but he lost his primary in June to a social conservative Bob Good in a party convention {snip}
{snip}
7. Rep. Scott R. Tipton (R-Colo.): Served in Congress nine years. Major factor in his loss was allegations he wasn’t conservative enough.
Tipton is another Trump-endorsed candidate who lost his primary to a challenger on the far right. In June, an outspoken gun rights activist, Lauren Boebert, beat Tipton in a rural Colorado district. She proudly talked about keeping her gun-themed restaurant, Shooters Grill, open in the middle of the pandemic.
{snip}
