How Democrats Are Able to Accomplish So Much
The party tends to coalesce early around candidates, who then tend to be loyal once they arrive in Washington.
Party favorite.
Photographer: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
One of the biggest political stories of 2022 was how the Republican Party fielded an unusually large number of weak candidates for Senate and gubernatorial primaries. Republicans’ failure to elevate candidates with wide appeal cost them dearly in the November midterms, when they bungled potentially winnable contests in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona and elsewhere.
But there was a less-noticed but equally important story on the Democratic side. In a surprising number of contests, the Democratic Party was able to clear the field for its preferred candidates by persuading other contenders not to run at all or even to drop out in the middle of their campaign.