This week’s primaries in North Carolina and Texas were defined by the massive turnout of Democratic voters and the lackluster performance by the states’ Republican candidates.
Across Congressional primaries in Texas, 54% of ballots cast were for Democrats, opposed to just 45% for Republicans. In North Carolina, 59% of ballots cast were for Democrats versus 41% for the GOP.
Speaking to NPR’s Here & Now, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene highlighted the motivation behind the large Democratic turnout and how it lays the foundation for a strong midterm election where House Democrats will re-take the majority in November.
DelBene dived into how candidate quality will be critical to Democrats’ success and how the American public is continuing to sour on Republicans’ failed agenda that is making life worse for working families and their broken promises to lower costs.
See highlights from Chair DelBene’s conversation below:
“We need three seats to take back the majority. And I think last night showed yet again how motivated Democrats are for change in Congress. Not just Democrats, but the American people are for change in Congress.”
“People are reacting to the broken promises that they’ve seen from the President and from Republicans in Congress – a promise on day one to lower costs. Yet costs have been skyrocketing because of actions taken by the President and Republicans in Congress, the impact on housing, food, health care, energy costs – all going up. Another broken promise. […] They said they were going to go after the worst of the worst on immigration. And yet, we have communities across the country who have been terrorized. And then now we have a situation where a president who said no ‘forever wars’, has taken action without going to Congress, and without justification or explanation to the American people.”
On the DCCC’s Red to Blue candidates:“These are folks running in purple districts across the country who are authentic, independent-minded members of their community. [They] want to come to Washington, D.C. to make a difference. Folks like Jo Mendoza, a Marine veteran. Also Jonathan Nez in Arizona, former president of the Navajo Nation. Veterans, […] mayors in their community, ministers, farmers, strong backgrounds of community service, and again, who are authentic, independent-minded, who want to come to Congress to make a difference and to stand up for the needs of their communities.”
“In North Carolina, we have folks like Don Davis, who’s been a trusted representative in that community […]. Jamie Ager, who won the primary in North Carolina 11. These are folks […] who are standing up for their communities and are speaking out, are talking directly to people about the issues that matter. That’s what people want to hear. They want to know that folks are going to work for them, and people are communicating that directly with their constituents.”
“We’ve seen in special elections across the country – people are turning out. They are voting. We’ve seen big flips in districts already, whether it’s in congressional special elections that have happened since November of 2024, we’ve seen 17% overperformance by Democrats in special elections generally across the country.”
###
Please make sure that the form field below is filled out correctly before submitting.
