House Democrats' old guard strikes back in California
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Rep. Brad Sherman speaks at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 10, 2025. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
The California primaries were supposed to be the first major triumph of younger Democrats' campaign to oust aging House incumbents. That's not how it's shaking out.
Why it matters: The old guard is proving they still have some fight, defying a "generational change" year for the party grassroots.
- Rep. Brad Sherman's (D-Calif.) campaign crowed that the results in his district were a "direct repudiation of Sherman's opponents' claims that voters ... value 'generational change' over experience and results."
- "We always know that primarying incumbents is really, really hard," said Amanda Litman, founder of Run for Something. "The incumbents are almost always going to win."
Driving the news: Sherman, 71, and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), 75, will both advance to the general election in November after comfortable top-two finishes in Tuesday night's jungle primaries, according to the AP.
- Their Democratic primary challengers didn't fare nearly as well: Sherman rival Jake Levine is projected to finish a distant third, meaning he won't make it to November.
- Thompson's Democratic challenger Eric Jones is in a close fight for second with Republican Ray Riehle, trailing by roughly three percentage points with half the votes counted.
- Both districts are solidly blue, meaning Sherman and Thompson are virtually guaranteed reelection if Republicans advance to the general election.
Zoom in: Rep. Doris Matsui's (D-Calif.) fate is more uncertain. The 81-year-old stood at just under 31% of the vote with a little less than half of the vote tallied as of Wednesday morning, according to the AP.
- Her progressive challenger Mai Vang was at 25%, with Republican Zachariah Wooden — a college undergraduate whose candidacy was boosted by Matsui's allies — close behind at 24%.
- Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), a perennial target of the left, finished ahead in his primary but may be forced to face progressive challenger Angela Gonzales-Torres in November.
Between the lines: While Levine and Jones centered their pitches to voters around generational change, Vang and Gonzales-Torres ran more as progressive alternatives to their establishment-backed incumbents.
- Age wasn't a huge a factor in the race between Gomez, 51, and Gonzales-Torres, 31.
- "It's important that change is presented as both generational and policy-wise," said Litman. "And if you can't paint that picture for how things will be different, you run into some problems."
Zoom out: Elsewhere in the state and across the country, progressives notched some major victories.
- Adam Hamawy, a vocally pro-Palestinian former combat surgeon best known for saving Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) in Iraq, won the primary to replace retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.).
- Smoke jumper Sam Forstag, backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is ahead in the Democratic primary in Montana's 1st district.
- Progressive Randy Villegas led Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee-backed Jasmeet Bains by four points as of Wednesday morning in the fight to take on Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.).
The bottom line: The generational change faction isn't losing hope of ousting older incumbents just yet.
- Said Litman: "The fact that these races are happening at all is indicative of how little control the establishment has to box people out or clear the field."
