Tuesday’s primaries

What Tuesday’s primaries tell us about the future of the Democratic Party

Democrats picked a pair of House candidates pushing economic populism in Pennsylvania and a well-known entity in Keisha Lance Bottoms for Georgia governor.

By Lisa Kashinsky and Alec Hernandez

Democrats still searching for a way out of the rubble of the 2024 election got a peek in Tuesday’s primaries of what their voters want for the future.

The races spanned a mix of competitive and safe-blue seats across six states — including a pair of crucial swing states. The result: A slate of disparate candidates who won’t give them a much clearer sense of their future.

State Rep. Chris Rabb, a progressive firebrand and self-styled “rabble-rouser,” won the open primary for the bluest House district in the country in Philadelphia. In a nearby Pennsylvania House battleground, Democrats nominated Bob Brooks, a blue-collar everyman backed by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro who leads a firefighters union and drives a snowplow on the side. And in Georgia, Democrats threw their support resoundingly behind a well-known quantity in former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, knocking out a deep slate of opponents with a majority of the vote.

Even though they aren’t alike, each race still says something about the trajectory of the Democratic Party. Here are some key takeaways from Tuesday’s sprawling primary map.

THE DEMOCRATIC BASE KEEPS BACKING PROGRESSIVES

The “Squad” picked up a new member in Pennsylvania. And progressives are holding up Rabb’s win as the latest in a string of victories — including Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Rep. Analilia Mejia in New Jersey — that demonstrate the base wants fighters against both President Donald Trump and a historically play-it-safe Democratic Party.

“It shows that we can organize and we can actually win on a bolder vision; that people are looking for someone who’s going to center working-class people who are tired of the status quo,” said Rep. Summer Lee, a Pittsburgh-area progressive and “Squad” member who backed Rabb.

“This isn’t just an urban victory,” Lee added. “It really shows the momentum. … People are looking for a different way of doing politics.”

Rabb racked up a list of high-profile progressive endorsers including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Maxwell Frost, along with a raft of lefty groups like the local chapters of the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America. He ran an intensely anti-establishment campaign in which he pushed for “Medicare for All,” called to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cast Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide.”

Rabb ultimately benefitted from the old Philadelphia Democratic establishment being divided behind pediatric surgeon Ala Stanford, who was retiring Rep. Dwight Evans’ preferred successor for his seat, and state Sen. Sharif Street, the scion of a prominent North Philadelphia political family who had the support of the city’s Democratic machine.

DEMS ARE COALESCING AROUND A WORKING-CLASS MESSAGE

Democrats desperate to win back working-class voters who’ve drifted toward Trump elevated a pair of candidates in Pennsylvania who centered economic populism in their campaigns in Rabb and Brooks.

The firefighter union chief ran on Medicare for All and leaned into his hardscrabble background in the blue-collar swing district, emphasizing his stints on food assistance and in public housing and the “callouses on my hands.” Rabb also ran hard on Medicare for All and a $25 minimum wage.

“These are two candidates who centered working-class issues. They’re obviously from different districts and demographics. But the message of populism — in Philadelphia and in the Lehigh Valley — sells and works,” said Nicholas Gavio, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Working Families Party, which backed both candidates.

Their wins will give a boost to progressives’ argument that economic populism is the answer to Democrats’ midterms messaging as voters feel the pinch of high costs. And Brooks will be a test case this fall as he tries to win back disaffected Democrats and oust GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in a key battleground.

“Bob Brooks had a great win and he put together the kind of coalition that any Democrat who wants to win in a tough district like this one should be aspiring to build, from Bernie Sanders to Josh Shapiro to labor support,” said Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), who helped recruit Brooks into the race. “He’s showing an economic populist message can unite Democrats and take a winning campaign to November.”

2028ERS ARE NOTCHING KEY WINS

Shapiro got his preferred slate for his aggressive push to help Democrats flip up to four competitive House seats in the battleground state: Brooks, Janelle Stelson in the 10th District, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in the 8th District and Bob Harvie in the 1st District. Only Brooks faced a crowded field.

If he’s successful in turning these seats blue in November — while running up the score in his own reelection bid — it could serve as a springboard for a potential presidential bid.

“Think about what it will look like — after we flip four seats here in Pennsylvania and win all across this country in November — to have a Congress that actually fights for us,” he said in an election-night speech. “I know we’re ready to do our part.”

But Shapiro failed to stop Rabb in Philadelphia, after Axios reported he was working behind the scenes to stall his past adversary’s ascent. Rabb could create even bigger headaches for Shapiro from Capitol Hill.

Shapiro wasn’t the only White House aspirant who was playing in Pennsylvania. Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) backed Rabb in Philadelphia. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) backed Brooks, too. Buttigieg rallied with Brooks in March, while Ocasio-Cortez did the same for Rabb last Friday.

On Tuesday, she posted on X thanking voters for “nominating this powerful champion for the working class to the People’s House.”

One loser of the night: Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who held an 11th-hour rally for Street, the establishment-backed candidate, on Monday.

NAME ID REALLY DOES MATTER

Rather than betting on a new face to win the governor’s mansion for the first time in over two decades, Georgians put their energy behind one of the highest-profile Democrats in the state: Bottoms.

The former mayor and senior White House advisor dominated Tuesday’s primary for governor, emerging from a primary against three legitimate opponents by clearing the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

Many Democrats in Georgia pointed to her high name ID as a significant factor in pushing her dramatically ahead of the field. Her high-profile endorsement from former President Joe Biden helped push her to a win.