Democrats Are Done With Vanity Candidates

WHEN DEMOCRATIC PARTY OFFICIALS first got wind earlier this year that Matt Dunlap, Maine’s state auditor, was considering a primary challenge against Rep. Jarden Golden, there was a collective annoyance inside the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Golden represents a rural part of the state that voted for Donald Trump by 10 percentage points in 2024. It’s one of the most competitive House districts in the country, but one he’d managed to find success in for four straight cycles. National Democratic officials had little patience for a progressive challenger trying to mess with the party’s chance at holding the seat.

And so, in May, DCCC officials—including the committee’s chair Suzan DelBene—called Dunlap to bluntly warn that a primary challenge was a bad idea. They argued that he had no shot at winning a general election and would instead waste the party’s time and money on a frivolous primary—time and money that could be better spent defending the seat in the general election.

But Dunlap wasn’t convinced. On Monday, he announced his campaign in a video attacking Golden for voting with Republicans and slamming the congressman for an opinion piece he wrote ahead of the election downplaying concerns that Trump was a threat to democracy. In a Zoom interview, Dunlap told me Maine voters wanted “somebody who’s gonna fight for them.”

“I think I can attract a lot of moderate independents and even some conservative independents, and probably a few Republicans,” said Dunlap. “That’s the same formula that Jared has counted on over the years, but I think it would work better for me. That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

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What was notable wasn’t that Dunlap ultimately decided to jump into the race, despite efforts to keep him out of it. Politicians are ambitious people, after all. Rather, what stood out was the chilly reception he received after doing so.

Massachusetts Rep. Jake Auchincloss tweeted that any “Democrat who tries to trip [Golden] up as he sprints into the general election is helping MAGA.” Democratic strategist Lis Smith called Dunlap’s campaign “the dumbest, vainest primary challenge of the cycle.” Democratic pollster Adam Carlson noted that he wasn’t a Golden fan but hoped the congressman “absolutely obliterates” Dunlap.

For a party that has often had its complaints with Golden—recall that he was, most recently, the only House Democrat to vote for the Republican government shutdown funding resolution—it felt somewhat surreal to see such a rallying to his side. But it also illustrated a larger trend: There is exceptionally little patience within the Democratic party at this moment for campaigns that are viewed as money sucks, vanity projects, or unnecessary risks.

“I want people to be practical and strategic about primaries and where we improve in the party,” Democratic strategist Mike Nellis told me, noting that primary challenges should be aimed at “do-nothing” members of Congress in safe districts. “We’re not going to do better than Jared Golden in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, we’re just not. And I’m okay with that.”

Dunlap isn’t the only Democratic candidate to announce a congressional bid this week only to catch heat from their own party. Democrats largely rolled their eyes at Amy McGrath after she announced Monday that she was running for Kentucky Senate again. McGrath, a retired fighter pilot, raised over $90 million in her 2020 campaign against Sen. Mitch McConnell, only to lose to him by nearly 20 points.

“Please don’t,” former Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.) tweeted at McGrath.

McGrath said that Democrats “need to stay focused on the real fight and not each other.” And in a text, Wild told me she didn’t have anything to add and that the tweet spoke for itself. But in case the subtext was lost on anyone, it seemed plainly clear that she saw a McGrath bid as a shiny object that would do Democrats little good—and that, she believed, the party has had enough of those.

After all, it wasn’t just McGrath who won over the party’s grassroots and raked in mind-blowing sums of money on a longshot campaign. Jaime Harrison raised more than $130 million in his 2020 bid to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, only to lose by