Democratic voters in Texas are already delivering some eye-popping results and the primary isn't even over yet. Early voting returns demonstrate that Democratic enthusiasm is through the roof, with almost 50,000 more Democrats than Republicans casting their ballots before Election Day in the state's most populous counties. Early voting among Texas Democrats is up 105 percent since 2014, while the GOP count this year has only exceeded 2014 by 15 percent.
If there's a potential downside to all this excitement, it's a concern among the Democratic party that a diverse set of multiple candidates running for each seat might not elevate their preferred candidate. Political writes:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee doesn't want Laura Moser as the party's nominee for a House seat in Texas that the party sees as critical to its strategy to winning control of the chamber next year. So in a post on its website, the committee called Moser — a journalist and activist who grew up in Houston, then moved home from Washington in the last year — a carpet-bagging opportunist who "begrudgingly moved" back to run for office.
Moser is competing with three other Democrats to face off with incumbent GOP Rep. John Culberson this November in the state's 7th congressional district. But in a bit of a twist, the DCCC's attack may have backfired. None of Moser's Democratic competitors appear to have made use of the DCCC-supplied oppo research while Moser's campaign coffers have certainly benefitted, gaining more than $130,000 since the DCCC post on Feb. 22.
The frontrunner for the Democrats appears to be EMILY's List-endorsed Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, while Moser vies with oncologist Jason Westin and nonprofit executive Alex Triantaphyllis for the No. 2 spot and a potential runoff if no one surpasses 50 percent.
But overly populated races pose even bigger pitfalls in places like California, where the primary's top two candidates ultimately face off against each other regardless of party. For instance, fully eight Democrats are competing to replace GOP Rep. Ed Royce (CA-39), who isn’t running for reelection. That's causing a little heartburn for the Democratic party at both the state and national levels.
“We’ve been having conversations with various candidates in various races — myself, my team, members of Congress and the DCCC staff — trying to do what we could to see if we could motivate some candidates to perhaps run for assembly or for school board,” said Eric Bauman, the California state Democratic Party chairman. “Ultimately, some people are going to be offended no matter what happens; that’s the reality.”
One can only hope the party strikes a good balance in putting its thumb on the scale in Democratic primaries across the country. California's so-called "jungle primary" system is one thing, but otherwise, Democratic voters should have the chance to choose the candidate of their choice. There's no reason to dampen enthusiasm with a heavy hand.