Schumer Gets His Candidates

[RandySF]

“Entering the 2026 cycle with 47 Senate seats and an unfavorable map, few thought Democrats had any shot of flipping control of the chamber,” Punchbowl News reports.

“But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has notched the final pieces of a complex recruitment plan, successfully persuading top-tier candidates to run for GOP-held seats in Alaska, Maine, Ohio and North Carolina.”


https://politicalwire.com/2026/01/14/schumer-gets-his-candidates/

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Janet Mills is hardly a top tier candidate

Mills is pro-filibuster, anti-labor

Republican-lite loses to Real Republican, every time. (Look at the polling)

Maine could do better, but the state party has held its coronation.

Unfortunately, the best candidate, Katie Porter’s former chief of staff, dropped out to run for Jared Golden’s house seat.

[Nixie]

2. "GOP-held seats". At least some haven't lost the plot. Purity

battles against Democrats do nothing to add to votes to get republicans out of the majority.

[AllyCat]

4. The voting and political behavior of the likes of Sinema

Manchin, and Fetterman is hardly purity.

These Dems have sided with the cons more than any of us would have liked on some substantive issues.

[Nixie]

5. That's not even the point. Fetterman was promoted by

the purists before he got sick of them. Sinema and Manchin were from red states.

[Clouds Passing]

3. Time to end the old guard

[Emile]

6. So are these the candidates that pass Schumer's

Purity Test?

[EdmondDantes_]

10. I suspect his test is perceived odds of winning

And I suspect that lends itself to traditional candidates more likely to hold more center of party beliefs for better and for worse. It probably washes out in terms of wins and losses, but it doesn't let the Overton window shift as quickly as the public might.

It also hews to the idea that the middle is where elections are won which seems less the case in our polarized era. It's not just gerrymandering in the house, but in how we are moving to states that match our values.

[betsuni]

7. I hear Dem-bashing being hastily cobbled together.

But Manchin! But Sinema! But Fetterman and Vixen! But old guard! But centrist! But Republican-lite! Now bash away! bash away! bash away all!

Waiting for the inevitable conspiracy theories...

[mcar]

9. Yes. To some, every candidate must be a pure as the driven snow "progressive"

Like our pal Fetterman. Otherwise, we get the centrist, Turd Way, blah blah.

And of course, Sen. Schumer cannot do anything right to some.

[mcar]

8. This is really good news!