Morning Digest: Michigan Democrat who called on Schumer to step aside joins Senate race

Mallory McMorrow, famous for a viral speech, is the first major candidate to run

Michigan Democrat Mallory McMorrow (credit: Mallory McMorrow campaign)

Leading Off

MI-Sen

Democratic state Sen. Mallory McMorrow kicked off a bid for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat on Wednesday, making her the first major candidate from either party to enter the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters.

McMorrow launched her campaign with a video in which she argued that Democrats can't fight the Trump administration with "[t]he same old crap out of Washington." She continued, "We need new leaders. 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."

While the state senator didn't explicitly mention Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in her opening message, she called for him to step down a week before entering the race.

"There's still this idea that Democrats and Republicans are still abiding by the same rules and still believe in the same norms and systems and structure," McMorrow told Politico late last month. "And the same approach is not going to work."

McMorrow won her seat in the legislature in 2018 by unseating Republican state Sen. Marty Knollenberg in the Detroit suburbs. (Peters was first elected to the U.S. House in 2008 by defeating Knollenberg's father, Rep. Joe Knollenberg.) She went on to earn a national following in 2022 for her response to a fundraising email from a Republican colleague in the Senate, Lana Theis, that smeared her as someone who wants to "groom and sexualize kindergartners."

Taking to the chamber floor, McMorrow retorted, "I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can't claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of 'parental rights' if another parent is standing up to say no." McMorrow's speech attracted widespread attention, with President Joe Biden calling to commend her.

More Democrats are likely to join McMorrow soon. Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed, who lost the 2018 primary for governor, said this week that he was stepping down from his post, and the Detroit News writes he's "expected to announce" if he'll run for the Senate this month.

Rep. Haley Stevens said in late February she'd make up her mind "in about six weeks," which would place her decision sometime in mid-April. Other Democrats and several Republicans have also shown interest in running in this competitive state.

The Downballot Podcast

The best Dem election night in ages

Tuesday night was a massive triumph for the forces of democracy, from coast to coast and up and down the ballot. We're recapping all of the action on this week's episode of The Downballot podcast, starting with Wisconsin's marquee race for the state Supreme Court and the very real possibility that Elon Musk's aggressive intrusion into the contest wound up helping Susan Crawford preserve liberals' narrow majority.

Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also examine the huge Democratic overperformances in two ruby-red Florida House districts, which show that Republicans were right to fear losing Elise Stefanik's seat in a special election. But that's not all: Democrats racked up big wins in a wide range of other races (Omaha! Aurora! Winnebago!), all of which the Davids recap.

The Downballot podcast comes out every Thursday morning everywhere you listen to podcasts. Click here to subscribe and to find a complete transcript!

1Q Fundraising

• AZ-06: JoAnna Mendoza (D): $800,000 raised (in two months)

• IL-08: Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-inc): $3 million raised, $19 million cash on hand (considering Senate bid)

• NY-18: Pat Ryan (D-inc): $1.2 million raised

• WI-03: Rebecca Cooke (D): $1 million raised (in three weeks)

Senate

IA-Sen

Democratic state Reps. Josh Turek and J.D. Scholten each informed the Des Moines Register this week that they're considering challenging Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, though Turek sounds the more interested of the two.

Turek, who earned two gold medals in wheelchair basketball at the Paralympic Games, told reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller that Iowa should not have an all-Republican congressional delegation.

Scholten, for his part, acknowledged that he's leaning toward remaining in the legislature. Scholten, a former minor league baseball pitcher who came shockingly close to unseating far-right Rep. Steve King in 2018, added he doesn't "know if I'm as interested" in running for the Senate if Chuck Schumer remains Democratic leader.

IL-Sen

Attorney General Kwame Raoul told reporters at a Tuesday event in Chicago that he's not interested in running for the Senate next year. While there's been occasional speculation that Raoul, who is one of the most prominent Democrats in Illinois, could run if Sen. Dick Durbin retires, the attorney general said, "I do not want to go to Washington. I want to stay here."

TX-Sen

Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson is considering running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican incumbent John Cornyn, reports the Dallas Morning News' Gromer Jeffers. Johnson, who unseated a Republican incumbent to win a seat in the Dallas suburbs in 2018, does not appear to have said anything publicly about a statewide run.

State Democratic consultant Matt Angle separately mentions state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and state Rep. James Talarico as possible candidates to CBS Texas, but there's also no word on their interest. Gutierrez ran for Texas' other Senate seat last cycle but lost the primary 59-17 to Rep. Colin Allred. (Allred, who went on to lose to GOP incumbent Ted Cruz, last week expressed interest in taking on Cornyn.)

Talarico, for his part, is often talked about as a potential Democratic candidate for higher office in this longtime Republican bastion. The state representative was the subject of a 2023 Politico profile titled, "He's Deeply Religious and a Democrat. He Might Be the Next Big Thing in Texas Politics." Reporter Adam Wren wrote back then that Talarico's allies said he was leaning toward challenging GOP Gov. Greg Abbott in 2026, but it's not clear if that's still the case.

Governors

CA-Gov

Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on Wednesday became the latest prominent Democrat to enter the busy race for governor of California, the state he previously served as a congressman and attorney general.

Becerra, who would be the first Latino to lead the Golden State since the 19th century, joins the top-two primary at a time when Kamala Harris has everyone guessing about her plans. Becerra says he'll continue to run even if he has to go up against the former vice president, whom Politico previously reported will decide by "the end of the summer."

Becerra is a longtime elected official who first won his Los Angeles-based House seat in 1992, and his rise to become the fourth-ranking Democrat in the chamber made him the most senior Latino member of Congress. Becerra considered seeking a promotion to the Senate a decade ago, but he ultimately decided not to oppose then-Attorney General Harris' successful campaign.

Becerra, though, left the House shortly after the 2016 election when then-Gov. Jerry Brown unexpectedly appointed him to replace Harris. Becerra's role as the top lawyer for the nation's largest state gave him new influence in American politics—he would sue the first Trump administration 122 times—and made him a prominent statewide figure.

The attorney general successfully sought a full term in 2018, but he received another promotion two years later when Joe Biden picked him to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Donald Trump's return to the White House in January ended the Democrat's tenure and intensified talk that he could return to California to succeed termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.

GA-Gov

Former state Sen. Jason Carter has been telling Democratic leaders that he's interested in a second campaign for governor, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein reports. Carter, who lost to then-Gov. Nathan Deal 53-45 during the 2014 GOP wave, is the grandson of the late President Jimmy Carter, who led Georgia in the early 1970s.

The younger Carter said back in June that he wasn't dismissing another try, but Bluestein writes that he was "seen as unlikely to run" until recently. The former legislator, who has not sought elected office in the last decade, has not commented publicly about his current thinking.

House

AZ-01

Businessman Jonathan Treble announced Wednesday that he was seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Rep. David Schweikert in Arizona's competitive 1st District. Treble, who has never sought office before, joins former TV anchor Marlene Galan-Woods in what could be a crowded primary.

AZ-05

Former state Rep. Travis Grantham on Wednesday became the first notable candidate to announce a campaign to replace Rep. Andy Biggs, a fellow Republican who is leaving Congress to run for governor of Arizona, in the safely red 5th District.

Grantham attracted infamy in 2021 when he insisted that Democrat Reginald Bolding's opposition to a voter suppression bill had violated the chamber's decorum rules. Grantham, who is white, griped that his "motives were arraigned … with regards to colored people, Black people, whatever people this individual wants to single out."

AZ-07

Progressive activist Deja Foxx announced Wednesday that she would compete in the July 15 special Democratic primary to succeed the late Rep. Raul Grijalva, a fellow Democrat.

Foxx, who has a large social media following, addressed last year's Democratic National Convention in what NPR said was the first such speech from a "content creator." Foxx, who turns 25 this month, said afterward that her presence on the stage was "a reminder that the future of politics and political figures will look different with Gen Z."

CA-32

Former congressional staffer Jake Rakov launched an intra-party challenge on Wednesday against his former boss, longtime Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman, in California's 32nd District. This constituency, which is based in Los Angeles' western San Fernando Valley, is safely blue turf, so two Democrats may advance out of next year's top-two primary.

Sherman hasn't had any trouble winning reelection since he decisively defeated Rep. Howard Berman after redistricting set off an ugly 2012 confrontation between the two veteran Democrats. But Rakov, who worked as Sherman's deputy communications director in 2017, launched his effort by arguing the 15-term congressman had lost touch with his constituents even before he failed them during and after January's devastating wildfires.

In an interview with Politico, Rakov charged that Sherman had done little during the crisis beyond "maybe tweeting out a 1-800 number" and wasn't using his office to help his constituents rebuild. Rakov, who at 37 is a generation younger than the 70-year-old incumbent, played down any ideological divide and framed his campaign as "much more about being a better member of Congress and actually doing what needs to be done in this moment in time."

Sherman, who finished last year with almost $4 million in his campaign war chest, responded by telling Axios that he's very much been a presence back home. The incumbent also said that his vocal criticism of cryptocurrency has made him a target, though he implied someone more established than Rakov might try to run against him.

"The crypto industry has been trying to find somebody major in the district, somebody who holds elective office," said Sherman, though he didn't suggest who might step up.

CA-41

Businessman Brandon Riker on Wednesday announced that he'd campaign as a Democrat against Republican Rep. Ken Calvert in California's 41st District, which includes Palm Springs and other communities in the Coachella Valley. The 71-year-old Calvert won his 17th term last year 52-48 following an expensive second bout against Democrat Will Rollins, while Donald Trump carried the 41st by a similar 52-46 margin.

Riker's only prior run for office was in Vermont a decade ago, when he tried to become the Green Mountain State's lieutenant governor in 2016. The Democrat and his family self-funded a large portion of his campaign, something he said "created a picture that I was trying to buy the seat, which wasn't true." Riker, however, dropped out before the primary, and KESQ says he's spent almost 10 years living in the Coachella Valley.

OH-09

Former state Rep. Craig Riedel ended talk that he could wage a third campaign against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur on Wednesday by announcing that he'd instead seek the Republican nomination for a seat in the state Senate. Riedel took second in the GOP primaries for Ohio's 9th Congressional District in 2022 and 2024.

OH-13

Former state Sen. Kevin Coughlin announced Wednesday that he'd seek a rematch against Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes in the 13th District, which Ohio Republicans will have the opportunity to redraw in time for next year's elections. Sykes fended off Coughlin last year 51-49. According to calculations by The Downballot, Kamala Harris carried the current version of this northeastern Ohio constituency 49.57-49.52—a margin of just 183 votes.

Mayors & County Leaders

New York, NY Mayor

A federal judge dismissed New York City Mayor Eric Adams' indictment on federal corruption charges with prejudice on Wednesday, meaning prosecutors cannot reinstate those same charges against Adams in the future.

The Department of Justice had sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, which would have allowed it to recommence criminal proceedings against Adams at any time. However, Judge Dale Ho rejected that request in a 78-page ruling.

When prosecutors first sought to drop Adams' case in February, they claimed they wanted to do so because their ongoing prosecution would interfere with the mayor's ability to support Donald Trump's immigration policies.

In light of that rationale—which Ho called "both unprecedented and breathtaking"—he concluded that a dismissal without prejudice "would create the unavoidable perception that the Mayor's freedom depends on his ability to carry out the immigration enforcement priorities of the administration."

Ho also declined to reject dismissal outright, saying that he could not compel the Justice Department to continue its prosecution and that he lacked the power to appoint an independent prosecutor.

Ho, however, was particularly harsh toward the federal government, saying that the DOJ's argument that its desire to dismiss the case was not subject to judicial review was "disturbing in its breadth, implying that public officials may receive special dispensation if they are compliant with the incumbent administration's policy priorities."

"That suggestion is fundamentally incompatible with the basic promise of equal justice under law," he wrote.

Ho also emphasized that his ruling was not about "whether the case against Mayor Adams 'should' continue based on the kinds of factors that a prosecutor might typically consider in bringing a case." Such a decision, he said, "is left to a political branch of our government, which is ultimately accountable for its actions to the people."

Rather, Ho explained, his role as a judge "is to shine a light on the reasons that DOJ has decided to dismiss this case, leaving the most important judgment to the public."

Voting Rights & Election Law

Arkansas

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a law that requires Arkansas' primaries to always take place in early March starting next year. Until now, the state held downballot nomination contests in May during midterm cycles, while all primaries took place in March during presidential years.

Arkansas' candidate filing deadline for this cycle will be in mid-November of this year, which will make it one of the earliest in the country.