‘Bad Blues’ Report Names Six House Democrats Deserving of Primary Challenges

‘Bad Blues’ Report Names Six House Democrats Deserving of Primary Challenges

A national group with more than 1 million online supporters today named six Democrats in the House who deserve to be “primaried” by progressive challengers.

The report from RootsAction, titled “Bad Blues 2026,” emphasizes that its list of six incumbents “is not exhaustive, and people should look closely at opportunities in the districts they live in." Presenting critical summaries of their records, RootsAction called for progressives to challenge (and, as needed, re-challenge) Congress members Jim Costa (CA-16), Lois Frankel (FL-22), Susie Lee (NV-03), Joe Morelle (NY-25), Jimmy Panetta (CA-19, Ritchie Torres (NY-15). All six are currently facing primary challengers of varying strengths.

The full Bad Blues report can be read at BadBlues.org.

Shortly after release of the report, RootsAction  will be sending emails to thousands of its active supporters in each of those six congressmembers’ districts -- providing the “Bad Blues” assessment of the incumbent’s record and urging constituents to work to replace them.

“While most insurgent primary campaigns will not win,” the report acknowledges, “they’re often very worthwhile -- helping progressive constituencies to get better organized and to win elections later. And a grassroots primary campaign can put a scare into the Democratic incumbent to pay more attention to voters and less to big donors.”

This news release is posted at:

For further information:

Jeff Cohen, jeff@rootsaction.org  (914) 388-1431

Sam Rosenthal, sam@rootsaction.org, (860) 301-8566