Young voters’ indignation at older leaders spurs Democratic primary challenges

From California to Illinois, the batch of young Democratic candidates running primary challenges are focusing their criticism on where they think Democrats have “abandoned” voters or “blocked change,” often pointing to congressional seniority — an asset in the Capitol, where it comes with better committee assignments and more clout — as a weakness when it comes to representing the current issues facing their districts.

“You’ll see people like Sen. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Sherman have been there for decades, who are still operating at the speed of 1996,” said Rakov, who is running to represent California’s 32nd District, encompassing Malibu and the Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Rakov, who was a staffer for Sherman in 2017, said after Trump took office in January, he saw Sherman making TV appearances using similar messaging and “doing the exact same thing” as he did in Trump’s first term. He said that’s when he knew he had to run.

“I was like, ‘This is exactly what’s wrong with the Democratic Party,’” Rakov said. “If we keep going down this road, it’s gotten us Trump twice. I don’t want to think about what it’s going to get us next time if we don’t change route.”

Rakov said Democrats are currently “flat-footed” in their approach to voters and are failing to match the energy and anger from their base as constituents are negatively impacted by the Trump administration. He said he thinks Democrats have gotten “stuck in their talking points” instead of having candid conversations with constituents about the issues affecting them, and he charged Sherman with being absent from his district in recent months.

Rakov said his challenge to Sherman isn’t based on ideological or even generational differences.

“There’s nothing about an age,” Rakov said. “This isn’t a generational argument, but this is about needing to actually get new energy and new voices into Congress on a regular basis. Congress was never meant to be a career.”

In a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson for Sherman’s campaign committee pointed to the numerous challengers he’s faced through the years, saying Rakov was the first who “has never voted in Sherman’s district prior to announcing his candidacy.”

“Rakov has not identified any single one of Congressman Sherman’s thousands of votes that he disagrees with,” the statement said. “So at least there is an important aspect of the job that he believes Sherman has performed flawlessly.”

Rakov pushed back against the statement, saying he’s lived and voted in Los Angeles for “many years” of his life, having moved with his husband to the 32nd District earlier this year. And he said in an email that Sherman’s “own social media” hasn’t shown him “here since February — even through Congress had an 11 day recess last month.”

Abughazaleh, who is running to represent Illinois’ 9th District, said she “got sick of waiting around and for someone to do what I thought should happen.”

Born to a Palestinian immigrant father and raised by Republican parents, Abughazaleh built a following through rapid-response videos for Media Matters and other organizations, arguing against right-wing narratives to hundreds of thousands of online followers.

“I think a lot of people assume this is going to be a purely digital campaign,” said Abughazaleh, who noted she’s currently the only person managing her social media. “But it’s actually the opposite. We want to build a deeply on-the-ground campaign focused on mutual aid, direct action, and meeting people where they are.”

She’s launching her campaign in a district she didn’t grow up in, hasn’t voted in and only moved to last year — which has already become a point of contention for some Democrats opposed to her candidacy.

Abughazaleh pushes back on that framing, saying, “I would say I have the same right to run as everyone else. This is a district that’s a quarter foreign-born. It has multiple colleges, tons of people from out of state. … I did not expect to, but I moved here last year — and I really love living here.”

Schakowsky — an 80-year-old progressive stalwart who has represented the district since 1999, before Abughazaleh was born — hasn’t yet announced whether she’ll run again but said in a statement to NBC News that she has “always encouraged more participation in the democratic process.”

“I’ll be deciding on my plans soon,” Schakowsky added, “but if I do indeed decide to retire, there are dozens of talented leaders, advocates, and organizers in the 9th Congressional District who know our community and who are ready to lead the charge as we fight back against the extreme MAGA regime and Trump’s shameful policies.”

Abughazaleh maintains she isn’t launching a campaign against Schakowsky — at least not yet. She called Schakowsky “historically one of the most progressive members of Congress,” but added “a lot of us … are worried about older people staying in office for longer periods of time.”

Asked if Schakowsky’s age played a role in her decision, Abughazaleh said, “I mean, it didn’t not.”