Anti-party, anti-politician candidates surge in midterms
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In red states and blue, unconventional candidates are downplaying — or even disowning — party labels to tap into voters' deep disdain for Washington.
Why it matters: They might not all win, but the sheer number of political outsiders connecting with voters tells us something about the electorate: It's angry and willing to take risks.
- The candidates — whether they come from the pulpit or the NFL sidelines — are making the same bet: Voters are tired of career politicians.
Zoom in: Consider three unorthodox Democrats leading in Senate contests in three red states: a Presbyterian seminarian in Texas (state Rep. James Talarico), a megachurch pastor in Kansas (Adam Hamilton), and an Alaska Native in that state (former Rep. Mary Peltola, who once skipped a week of House votes to go fishing when Chinook salmon were running).
- Deep-blue Minnesota's Senate race features Michele Tafoya — a former NFL sideline reporter who's endorsed by President Trump but calls herself an independent Republican. She's mounting a serious challenge to Democrat Peggy Flanagan, the lieutenant governor.
- In House races, on the Democratic side there's a smokejumper in Montana (Sam Forstag), a 29-year-old barista in Colorado (Melat Kiros) and a Tejano singer in Texas (Bobby Pulido).
Four independent Senate candidates are courting Democratic voters without running with a (D) next to their names — and sometimes without a Democrat officially in the race.
- In Nebraska, Dan Osborn, a union steamfitter and former factory mechanic, is mounting a serious independent challenge to Sen. Pete Ricketts, a former two-term governor whose family owns the Chicago Cubs.
- In Montana, Seth Bodnar, a former Army Green Beret and University of Montana president, is running as an independent for an open Senate seat. Democrats tried to persuade their nominee to drop out, but she stayed in the race.
- In South Dakota, Brian Bengs, a onetime park ranger, is challenging Republican Sen. Mike Rounds as an independent. Four years ago, Bengs ran against Sen. John Thune as a Democrat.
- In Idaho, former Army tank commander and tech executive Todd Achilles is running as an independent against Republican Sen. Jim Risch. (Achilles previously served in the Idaho House as a Democrat. The official Democratic Senate nominee dropped out of the race in July.)
For many Republicans, quasi-Democrats running as independents amount to foul play — an attempt to deceive voters by discarding an unpopular brand.
Between the lines: Even candidates with more conventional backgrounds are shading their biographies to meet the populist moment.
- In the Maine Senate race, Democrat Troy Jackson — who spent two decades in the state House and Senate before being term-limited out in 2024 — introduces himself as a fifth-generation Maine logger.
Zoom out: The populist path to Washington is at least as old as President Andrew Jackson, who first took office in 1829. It's as fresh as President Trump.
- In recent years, there have been unorthodox candidates on both sides. Some succeeded; others didn't.
- Al Franken, famous for being a writer and actor on "Saturday Night Live," won a U.S. Senate seat in Minnesota in 2008 and served more than eight years before resigning.
- Herschel Walker, a celebrated college and NFL running back, couldn't find the end zone in his 2022 Senate race in Georgia.
Say what you want about the 45th and 47th president: The New York developer with a penchant for gold leaf has connected with disaffected working-class voters.
- Democrats have struggled to match Trump's appeal to non-college-educated voters, but Trump has made their task easier this cycle with an unpopular war and tariffs that voters blame for high prices.
The bottom line: A version of the insurgent-vs.-establishment battle played out in Democratic primaries earlier this year, when seven House incumbents went down — tying a 21st-century high.
- That included Kiros, the 29-year-old Colorado barista and democratic socialist who defeated a 15-term incumbent in the primary and is on a glide path to victory next month.
