It’s been a bad year to be an incumbent.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee’s Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and topple longtime Rep. John Larson in Connecticut.
THE TRUMP FACTOR
For Republicans, Trump played a major role in directing voters against his longstanding Washington foes.
Trump-backed challengers wiped MAGA irritants Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) off the map. And the president’s late-stage endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate runoff helped lost competitive races in ran for other offices or member-on-member primary forced by gerrymandering that played on their generational divide.
Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson lost her redrawn Dallas-area district to former Rep. Colin Allred, while Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s right-flank challenger leveraged the redraw (as well as Darrell Issa of California and switched from GOP to independent after his district was redrawn, said the new maps have unleashed “chaos” on the House and “reduced the quality of representation in Congress.”
SWEPT OUT BY SCANDAL
Call it the amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) dropped his reelection bid and resigned after couldn’t overcome his past controversies, a newly redrawn district and outside spending. Republican Florida Rep. Cory Mills haven’t been kind to GOP representatives seeking higher office either. Reps. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota and Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina all lost their gubernatorial bids. Voters rejected Norman twice: He also lost the snap primary for Lindsey Graham’s seat to the late senator’s sister — a total political newcomer. Texas Rep. Chip Roy also lost a runoff for state attorney general.