When Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow decided in February that she wanted to run for an open U.S. Senate seat, she conveyed her intentions to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But the committee asked her to hold off, according to three sources familiar with the conversations.
In that call and subsequent ones, some of which took place at the staff level, DSCC officials didn’t explicitly ask her not to run, but “they were slow-walking,” said one source who discussed the private conversations on condition of anonymity. “It was, ‘Can you wait a little longer, can you wait?’”
In early April, McMorrow defied their wishes and launched her campaign, inveighing against “the same old crap in Washington” and highlighting polls that showed the Democratic Party’s approval rating at an all-time low.
“We need new leaders,” she said in her launch video. “Because the same people in D.C. who got us into this mess are not going to be the ones to get us out of it.”
Whether she intended it or not, the 39-year-old McMorrow started a trend of Democratic outsiders end-running party leaders to launch their campaigns, sometimes in explicit opposition to them. The movement is fueled by a crisis of confidence among Democratic voters in their own party, which is giving encouragement to the types of nontraditional candidates who have been walloped by leadership-aligned rivals in the past.
Altogether, ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, the moves have created a number of crowded and competitive-looking Democratic Senate primaries — contests that have often seen party leaders leap in to anoint favorites in recent years. Democratic angst following the loss to President Donald Trump last year has contributed to the trend in at least five races that could determine the majority, from core battlegrounds like Michigan and Maine to long-shot targets like Iowa and Texas.
The DSCC has not endorsed in any competitive Senate primaries so far, though Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who chairs the committee, has not ruled out doing so.
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who serves as a DSCC vice chair, said the committee would only intervene in primaries if it was necessary to stop a politically toxic candidate.
“I think the DSCC general inclination is to let the local parties and voters make those decisions, unless there’s a candidate who’s clearly not viable,” he said. “But I think we’re going to have a set of strong challengers all over the country.”
The DSCC did not address questions about the conversations with McMorrow earlier this year. In a statement, DSCC spokesperson Maeve Coyle said: “The DSCC is focused on winning Senate seats and flipping the majority in 2026, and our strategy is guided by the best way to do that.”
The McMorrow campaign declined to comment.
A slate of big primaries
Even as the DSCC remains officially neutral, it is not uncommon for leaders to work behind the scenes to steer donors and party support to preferred candidates in an effort to head off contested primaries in key races. That strategy is facing new headwinds.
McMorrow, for example, has said she won’t vote to re-elect Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as the Democratic leader. Her main Democratic rivals in Michigan, four-term Rep. Haley Stevens and progressive physician Abdul El-Sayed, have both demurred on whether they would back Schumer as leader.
“I understand that I’m sometimes not the ‘capital D’ Democratic Party’s favorite,” El-Sayed said in a recent interview when asked if he has faced any pressure to drop out of the race. “But I’m listening to the people and they’re telling me, ‘Abdul, it shouldn’t be this hard and you’re the only one showing up and telling us how you want to fix it.’”
In Maine, where Democratic leaders are holding out hope of recruiting Gov. Janet Mills, oyster farmer and military veteran Graham Platner is running as a populist disruptor who will take on a system that is “rigged” for the wealthy.
Platner, who has made waves on social media, garnering millions of views for his posts and videos, is also vowing not to support Schumer if elected. (Platner and El-Sayed have both been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.) Former congressional aide Jordan Wood, brewery owner Dan Kleban and former Air Force civilian officer Daira Smith Rodriguez are also running in the Democratic primary in Maine.
Mills has said she is seriously considering running, and she could face a contested primary if she jumps in. Kleban has not said if he would stay in the race, but both Platner and Wood have vowed to take on Mills.
Contested Democratic primaries are also developing in Iowa and Texas, two Republican-leaning states that could have competitive Senate races next fall.
