These Democrats helped flip the House in Trump’s first term. They’re coming back to try to do it again

By Arit John, CNN

(CNN) — Seven years ago, they were part of a wave of first-time candidates who helped Democrats retake the US House. But their tenures in Congress were brief.

Ben McAdams of Utah lost his first re-election bid in 2020. Two years later, Tom Malinowski of New Jersey and Elaine Luria of Virginia were defeated by Republican opponents as the GOP retook control of the House.

Now, the former lawmakers are launching comebacks, running on both affordability issues and the public service and democracy-focused messaging that helped them during the first Trump administration.

“There’s a lot of dissatisfaction across the country,” Luria said in an interview. “This administration, these current incumbent members of Congress made lots of promises to the country, to their constituents, and they’ve gone to Washington and done none of it.”

In many ways, the stakes of the 2026 midterms mimic those of 2018, when Democrats flipped 40 US House seats during President Donald Trump’s first term with candidates who emphasized their national security and public service backgrounds. In office, many of those winning candidates valued bipartisanship even when it meant bucking their own party.

But the political landscape they’re competing in will look very different. The number of competitive seats has dwindled, fueled in part by a nationwide mid-cycle redistricting push launched at Trump’s behest. And the party’s base is increasingly seeking candidates willing to push back on the administration, not work across the aisle.

“This cycle, it’s about who’s going to stand up and fight for our values against the Trump administration, as it runs a roughshod over them,” said Ian Russell, a Democratic strategist advising state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, a McAdams opponent. “That’s less of an ideological discussion and more of a presentation discussion.”

New districts driven in part by redistricting

Malinowski, a former State Department official who defeated a four-term Republican incumbent, is competing in a crowded primary for the safe Democratic seat Mikie Sherrill is vacating after winning the New Jersey governor race. McAdams, who ousted former GOP Rep. Mia Love by about 700 votes in 2018, is running in a new, heavily Democratic seat drawn by court order.

Luria is seeking a rematch against Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans, who beat her in 2022. While that race is currently viewed as a toss-up, it could become more favorable if Virginia Democrats succeed in their redistricting effort.

“Out of touch Democrats Ben McAdams, Tom Malinowski, and Elaine Luria are about to be members of the Repeat Losers Club,” Mike Marinella, a spokesman for House Republicans’ campaign arm, said in a statement.

The trio’s comeback bids come as Democrats are hoping to build on the electoral wins this month in Virginia, New Jersey and California. While making the cost of living a centerpiece of their messaging, Democrats are once again arguing that Trump poses a threat to democracy and that retaking the House is the best way to check his power.

“It’s a more acute version of the same threat that led a bunch of folks who had never run for office before to decide that running for the House of Representatives was the most useful thing that we could do about the danger facing the country,” Malinowski told CNN.

Part of Democrats’ success in 2018 came from backing candidates who were moderate enough to win swing districts. Many of those lawmakers have become the bench of the party, winning gubernatorial and Senate races.

This time around, the comeback candidates will have to show they’re the right candidate in blue, not purple, districts. None of the former lawmakers have been able to clear out their primary fields, and they will need to advance through competitive primaries.

In New Jersey, Malinowski won the endorsement of Sen. Andy Kim, while Gov. Phil Murphy endorsed another candidate in the race. (Malinowski previously backed Kim during his Senate campaign against Murphy’s wife, Tammy.)

Several Democrats are expected to run for the nomination in Utah. And while one candidate dropped out of the Virginia race and backed Luria, Navy reservist James Osyf issued a defiant statement ahead of her campaign launch.

“Yesterday’s establishment got us into this mess; they’re not going to get us out of it,” said Osyf, who launched his campaign in July. “This moment demands new leaders who know democracy is at a breaking point and are ready to fight for it – regardless of which way the political winds are blowing.”

Luria’s former Hampton Roads district is competitive under the current district lines. But her announcement last week came after Virginia lawmakers began the process of putting a proposal on the ballot next year that would allow them to redraw the state’s congressional map in Democrats’ favor. Though no maps have been released, the seat is expected to become much more favorable for Democrats.

Luria said the potential redistricting didn’t influence her decision. She said she passed on the 2024 campaign after a difficult period for her family but feels compelled to enter the race this cycle.

“I’m running for the second district as it exists today, and if those lines change between here and Election Day, we’ll adjust,” she said.

Luria has already changed one position that dogged her time in office: her opposition to banning congressional stock trading. When she was previously in Congress, Luria called the concept of a ban “bullsh*t.” She said this week that her position has “evolved over time,” and she would now support the current proposal to ban stock trading for members of Congress.

“I can see, and I appreciate a lot more now, the absolute distrust that people have in current members of Congress and the government,” she told CNN. “I think this is a small gesture for members of Congress to do to at least make people feel that they can trust in them that they’re not going to use their office for any sort of personal gain.”

McAdams, meanwhile, has changed his stance on abortion. While in office, he said supported the teachings of his LDS faith “that oppose abortion except in cases of rape, incest, danger to the mother’s life and in certain other rare circumstances.” But he told CNN this week that he would support codifying the protections in Roe v. Wade, which allowed for abortion until fetal viability, due to how much upheaval the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ruling has called.

The question is whether his ties to the district – he spent years representing parts of the district as a mayor and state senator – are enough to win a seat that’s now solidly blue.

“My style of governing doesn’t change based on the politics of where I’m running,” McAdams said.

All three candidates are banking that there’s still room in the party for moderates, even in districts that can afford to elect more progressive candidates.

“That’s what we’re missing today,” said John Lapp, a former executive director of House Democrats’ campaign arm when the party won control in 2006. “Folks willing to take on the system, but also people willing to solve problems instead of just shutting things down and having tantrums.”

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