Senate Democrats Square Off With Each Other in ‘Spicy Primaries’

Senate Democrats have a shared goal of taking back the majority this fall. Boy, do they disagree about how to do it.

Party leaders have been picking winners and clearing the field since the late Harry Reid was leader, but those days are clearly at an end as Democratic senators splinter in a host of competitive primaries — at times at odds with the Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The new dynamic takes the fight about the future of the party — from ideology to electability to age — directly to voters, and it gives rank-and-file senators influence to shape primary results. The new Wild West isn’t lost on its members.

“It’s because we haven’t had the spicy primaries,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told Semafor. “Spicy primaries are interesting, and it shows that voters are being given a choice.”

The jockeying around those primaries has become so intense that Schatz said he’s “not even tracking who’s for who. I would need a Google Doc.” The candidates themselves are paying close attention, wielding endorsements from sitting senators to boost name recognition and raise money.