By Luke Albert ‘22, Harvard College Democrats Co-President (2022)
It is August of 2022, and the midterm election season is about to heat up as primaries wind down over the next month. We, the Harvard College Democrats, began an annual democratic endorsement process for campaigns we would support, allowing our organizing to be democratically led by our membership. This has opened so many doors for our programming and engagement, perhaps most notably our newfound involvement in competitive primary campaigns. Prior to the past two years, we allowed students to individually organize in groups for specific campaigns, like the 2020 presidential primaries! However, now with our democratic endorsement process, we fight to elect great candidates in general and primary elections, which can sometimes be the deciding factor in who ends up in office. We know that it’s not enough to just elect Democrats but that we must elect good Democrats, and now, since we’ve been involved in some of these battles in an election cycle full of them, I wanted to take the time to reflect on the election results of the candidates we’ve endorsed this year, look ahead at those with elections on the horizon, and preview the high stakes election coming this November.
In the weeks following our endorsements in February, Texas held the first primaries in the country. We were thrilled to see Greg Casar rise above a crowded primary to win the nomination and become the likely next Member of Congress representing the Austin and San Antonio areas. We endorsed Greg as part of endorsing the entire Justice Democrats-backed slate. This was an intentional choice aimed at continuing to build progressive power and votes in the House, adding to the ranks of Members of Congress fighting for single payer healthcare, a Green New Deal, and justice across U.S. policy. Unfortunately, Jessica Cisneros, of that same slate and in an adjacent district, narrowly lost a runoff with Henry Cuellar, the lone anti-abortion and most conservative Democrat in the House, by a mere 289 votes. We were excited to see Beto O’Rourke win the nomination to challenge Greg Abbott for the governorship. While it will be an uphill battle, Beto’s inspired, every-county campaign approach that doesn’t back down from confrontation will have a positive reverberating effect across Texas and the country, as it did in 2018.
To kick off our federal races, in May, John Fetterman resoundingly won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Pennsylvania, winning every single county. We can’t wait to help Fetterman get elected to the Senate and send Dr. Oz packing to New Jersey. Meanwhile, Summer Lee, another Justice Democrats-backed House candidate, will advance as the heavy favorite to become Pennsylvania’s next Representative from the Pittsburgh area. Later that month, Stacey Abrams unsurprisingly secured the gubernatorial nomination in Georgia, and Chris Jones won in Arkansas. Mandela Barnes then rallied a competitive field to become the Democratic nominee to unseat Sen. Ron Johnson, who recently suggested taking Medicare and Social Security from millions of Americans. Lastly, Joe Vogel, whose campaign ranks are even filled with some of our members,, won the primary and is set to become a Delegate for Maryland’s 17th District next year.
However, not all results for campaigns we endorsed turned out how we hoped. Unfortunately, James Coleman and Lloyd Handler, two candidates near and dear to Harvard Dems as an organization, fell short. Kina Collins and Imani Oakley, two inspiring progressives for House, may have lost but pushed longtime incumbents in Illinois and New Jersey respectively. There are still plenty of primaries to go including our home state of Massachusetts where we desperately need to get Eric Lesser and Tanisha Sullivan over the finish line in very competitive races. Maxwell Frost has picked up steam with his upcoming primary in Florida but faces smears and dirty attacks from his opponents. There is so much work to be done even as we set our sights to November.
National Democrats have strung together weeks of exciting victories for the country led by President Biden from a historic climate, healthcare, and tax bill to major 21st century industry policy to the first gun safety legislation in a generation and so much more. Folks, this is true and transformative progress for our country, and it’s going to pay off politically in helping us buck the trend of incumbent parties in DC being voted out of majorities. With exciting Senate candidates facing notably awful opponents, FiveThirtyEight gives Democrats a 61% chance of holding the Senate majority and being able to continue to aid the President in historic accomplishments like the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the most federal judges to this point since JFK, with the most diverse slate of jurists in history. Furthermore, for the first time since November of 2021, Democrats lead Republicans in FiveThirtyEight’s average of national, generic ballot polls. The winds are blowing in the right direction, so don’t listen to anyone who would spell doom on what’s to come this November. We have a chance to surprise all of them, elect extraordinary leaders across the country, and continue to build on historic progress. We just have to put in the work and fight like our freedoms, lives, and democracy are on the line, because they are. It takes all of us, so I look forward to knocking doors, talking to our neighbors, and making calls alongside you. Let’s get to work.