House Democrats brace for tsunami of primary challenges

• Progressive influencer Kat Abughazaleh, 26, kicked off a challenge to 80-year-old Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on Monday.
• Saikat Chakrabarti, a 39-year-old former aide to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), is challenging 84-year-old House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
• Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), the 79-year-old former Agriculture Committee ranking member who was ousted from that post last year over concerns about his health, is being primaried by 65-year-old state Sen. Emanuel Jones.

What they're saying: Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), the first Gen Z member of Democratic leadership, predicted "a lot" of primary challenges soon to come.

• "We're going to see a lot of new people running for office across the country, for sure," he said. "Not just in Congress, everything."
• Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) cited the Democratic grassroots' growing "impatience" toward their elected leaders, who they feel are not doing enough to fight President Trump.
• "Depending on how Democrats deal with this moment, that impatience may continue to rise," she said.

What we're hearing: "I do think we will see more challenges. People are scared, anxious and pissed," a progressive House Democrat told Axios on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly.

• "They want people to fight for them. I hear this over and over. They also want a new generation of leaders," the lawmaker said.
• A centrist, swing-district House Democrat told Axios they personally expect to be challenged and said the left is "going after people they think aren't progressive enough ... going after the moderates."
• The centrist Democrat said there is a unique generational and stylistic schism — rather than simply an ideological divide — at play. In other words: "Who's good at messaging?"

Zoom out: Democrats have been experiencing months of generational and philosophical upheaval, beginning with former President Biden's withdrawal from the Democratic presidential ticket last summer.

• Following the party's losses in the 2024 elections, House Democrats ousted several of their oldest committee leaders, including Scott, and replaced them with younger, more aggressive alternatives.
• Now elected Democrats are facing a ferocious backlash from their rank-and-file, fueled by a perception the party has failed to find effective methods or use all its available leverage to counter Trump.
• At a press conference on Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) acknowledged "there is a lot of energy, a lot of angst, a lot of anxiety" within the Democratic grassroots.

What to watch: Jeffries has a policy of backing incumbents in primaries — but progressive Dems say he did the bare minimum for former "Squad" Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, who were primaried in 2024.

• A senior House Democrat said there is a feeling the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee "does nothing to help people in primaries" and that there is "a real rift coming ... in this caucus" on the issue.
• Said Jayapal: "We believe that incumbents should be protected, we all pay into the DCCC. I think sometimes that doesn't happen. The frontliners get protected, and everyone else gets, you know."
• Justice Democrats, a left-wing group that helped Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) win her primary, is renewing its efforts to unseat incumbent Democrats this cycle.

The bottom line: "There is definitely a feeling that the younger energy is reinvigorated. And obviously we've seen leadership ... encouraging that," said a fourth House Democrat who spoke anonymously.

• "I think that's going to involve, as it has already, leadership challenges. I think it's pressuring members [who are older] to retire," the lawmaker said.
• And, they added: "I think it will result in primary challenges for people who don't choose to go on their own."