Congressional upsets: Progressives, candidates of color, and GOP outsiders net primary wins

The 2020 congressional primary elections have been marked by a number of upsets, where candidates with little name recognition have been propelled into the national spotlight.

Early primary upsets demonstrated the strength of some progressive and staunch conservative candidates, who sometimes lacked backing from their respective parties.

In New York, three Democratic candidates are poised to replace or succeed moderate longtime incumbents in June. In Illinois, a progressive candidate, backed by the Justice Democrats organization, beat the most conservative Democrat in Congress. In Pittsburgh, a progressive statehouse candidate making her first run for office ousted an incumbent who is the brother of the city's former mayor.

More: Booker beats progressive challenger, Van Drew race set and other takeaways from Tuesday's primary

Candidates of color, specifically Black candidates, have been on the winning side of several notable upsets. Physician Cameron Webb, who is Black, beat three white opponents in Virginia's 5th congressional district primary, a seat Democrats hope to take back now that the Republican incumbent lost his own primary. Wesley Hunt and Burgess Owens, Black candidates who won Republican nominations in Texas and Utah, respectively, are both running to represent districts in which Black people are minorities.

More Republican women are also winning primaries. According to the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers, a record 55 Republican women won House primaries this year, clearing the previous bar of 53 set in 2004. That's in part because more Republican women are running — 220 filed to run for the House, up from 120 who ran in 2018.

Here are some of this primary season's most surprising upsets:

Lauren Boebert

Rep. Scott Tipton, a five-term incumbent from Colorado, lost the 3rd congressional district's Republican nomination to Lauren Boebert, a restaurant owner and outspoken gun rights activist. Boebert beat Tipton by nearly ten points.

More: John Hickenlooper wins Colorado Democratic primary, will face Sen. Cory Gardner

Trump had endorsed Tipton, tweeting his support for the congressman in December as well as the night before the election. Boebert's website describes her as a supporter of Trump, praising "his policies to Make America Great Again."

Boebert's restaurant, Shooters Grill in Rifle, Colorado, became the subject of national media attention in 2014, for an open carry policy allowing staff to be armed with guns. Her commitment to gun rights also earned her a viral moment in 2019, when she confronted then-presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke at a town hall. “I was one of the gun owning Americans who heard (O'Rourke) speak regarding your ‘Hell yes I’m going to take your AR-15s and AK-47s,'" she said. "Well, I’m here to say, hell no you’re not.'”

Boebert was also covered by local press as a vocal critic of Democratic Gov. Jared Polis' coronavirus lockdown measures, reopening Shooters Grill in defiance of state orders.

Diane Mitsch Bush, a former state lawmaker, won the district's Democratic nomination and will face Boebert in the fall.

Jamaal Bowman

New York's congressional primary in June saw a near sweep of Democratic nominations by progressives. With several candidates projected to beat ⁠more centrist or establishment competitors, the elections mirrored Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's upset against 10-term former Rep. Joe Crowley in 2018.

Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal from the Bronx, beat longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel with about 60% of the vote.

Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, represented the 16th District for more than 30 years.

The Justice Democrats-backed Bowman began to surge after Engel, asking to speak at an event, was caught on mic saying, “If I didn't have a primary, I wouldn't care,” according to NBC News. Engel was criticized by primary challengers for not returning to his district for months during the COVID-19 crisis.

Bowman, who was endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez, ran a campaign firmly aligned with the party's progressive flank. He is a proponent of multiple "New Deals," including the Green New Deal — an Ocasio-Cortez-spearheaded proposal that outlines a broad plan for tackling climate change —as well as plans to reform education and public housing.

"I am excited, I am happy, I cannot wait to get to Congress and cause problems for the people in there that have been maintaining a status quo that has literally been killing our children," Bowman said during his election night watch party.

There is no Republican challenger for the November election.

More: AOC’s blowout win, last-minute voting in Kentucky and other key takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries

Cori Bush

Cori Bush, a Black Lives Matter activist and pastor, defeated incumbent Rep. William Lacy Clay for the Missouri seat he held for 20 years in August.

Bush, a progressive candidate who was among the original Justice Democrats class in 2018, lost to Clay during that year's primary. This year, however, Bush beat Clay with about 49% of the vote, compared to his 45.5%.

Clay, who was first elected in 2000, replaced his father, Rep. Bill Clay Sr., who served the 1st congressional district between 1969 to 2001 and was a founder of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Clay Jr. received endorsements from moderate high-profile Democrats such as Sen. Kamala Harris, while Bush received support from progressive champions of the party, like Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Bush, who became a political activist following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, ran on a platform promoting criminal justice reform, prison reform, and an investment in "social safety net" policies like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal.

Bush will face off against Republican Anthony Rogers in November's general election in a district that leans strongly Democratic.

Madison Cawthorn

Madison Cawthorn, the owner of a real estate investment company, unexpectedly beat Lynda Bennett, a real estate agent and activist, in the race to claim the Republican nomination for Mark Meadows' 11th District seat in North Carolina, which he gave up to become Trump's chief of staff.

Cawthorn, 24, beat Bennett with 65.82% of the vote in the district's runoff election in June. The outcome was considered an upset, given that the Trump and Meadows-endorsed Bennett won the vote in March (but not by a wide enough margin to avoid a runoff election). Like Boebert, Cawthorn is a supporter of Trump.

Cawthorn said that he was inspired to run for Congress because he was disappointed by how the Republican party handled full control of the White House and Congress in 2017.

“It felt like Donald Trump was having to pull teeth from Congress to try to get anything done, and so I want to go over to Washington D.C. to break that status quo, to actually get something done,” he said in an interview with The Hill.

More: With second primary underway, Cawthorn addresses voting in-person, by mail options

Cawthorn's website touts his conservative views on health care, immigration, abortion rights and gun control. "I’m running because our faith, our freedoms and our values are under assault from coastal elites and leftists like Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," he states.

If elected in November, Cawthorn would become the youngest member in Congress, a title currently held by Ocasio-Cortez. He will face off against Democratic candidate and retired U.S Air Force colonel Moe Davis in the fall.

Randy Feenstra

Iowa Republicans ousted nine-term incumbent Rep. Steve King, nominating state Sen. Randy Feenstra to run for the state's 4th congressional district seat. Feenstra beat King by nearly ten points.

The conservative district has long had to contend with King's controversial remarks. While talking about "Dreamers" in a July 2013 interview, King claimed that for every young immigrant who becomes a school valedictorian there are "100 out there that, they weigh 130 pounds and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert." In an interview with The New York Times last year, King suggested that the term "white nationalist" should not be considered offensive.

King was removed from his committee seats over the comments he made to the Times. King's competitors, including Feenstra, used King's rejection from those committees as proof Feenstra would be more effective as an ally of Trump.

Republicans largely rebuked King through their support of Feenstra during the primary campaign. Feenstra significantly outraised King, and was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Right to Life Committee. Five Republican congressmen even donated to Feenstra's campaign.

Feenstra will compete with J.D. Scholten, who ran uncontested for the Democratic nomination, in the fall. Scholten previously lost to King by a slim margin in the 2018 general election.

Feenstra's win is likely. Support for a Republican representative in Iowa's 4th congressional district exceeds support for a Democrat by 22%, according to a June Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll.

Mike Garcia

Republican Mike Garcia, a former U.S. Navy pilot and defense contractor executive, beat Democrat Christy Smith, a member of the California State Assembly, in the special general election for Illinois Rep. Katie Hill's seat in May.

Garcia's 25th District victory represents the first time a Republican candidate has flipped a Democratic seat in California since 1998. Trump had endorsed Garcia on Twitter, though he originally said the election would be "rigged" by California Democrats.

The two candidates will run against each other again in the fall.

Bob Good

Rep. Denver Riggleman, a freshman congressman, lost the Republican nomination for Virginia's fifth district seat to Bob Good, a former official in the athletics department at Liberty University in June.

Riggleman, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was the subject of intense criticism from Republicans in his district after he officiated a gay wedding for two former campaign volunteers last summer.

The Virginia county GOP formally censured Riggleman last fall, doubting his "support for traditional family values, and other conservative principles," according to The Hill.

"He's out of step with the base of the party on life," Good said in May, in a debate with Riggleman on The Schilling Show, a Charlottesville radio program. "He's out of step on marriage. He's out of step on immigration. He's out of step on health care, on climate, on drug legalization."

Riggleman claimed the election process was rigged by Republican insiders, by making the nomination process a convention instead of a primary. Conventions traditionally favor more conservative candidates and have been used for years by Virginia Republicans to block moderate candidates from winning elections.

Good will face off against physician Cameron Webb in the fall's general election.

Ronny Jackson

Ronny Jackson, a Trump-backed former White House physician with no political experience, beat Josh Winegarner, a former cattle industry lobbyist, in the Republican runoff for Texas' 13th District House seat.

Jackson, who was a White House physician to President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama, received endorsements from Trump on Twitter, who called him "strong on Crimes and Borders" and insisted Jackson would "protect your #2A."

Winegarner had the support of outgoing Republican Rep. Mac Thornberry.

Jackson positioned his relationship with Trump as the biggest asset to his candidacy. The district has some of the highest rates of support for Trump in the country, giving the president 80% of its vote in 2016, according to the Cook Political Report.

Jackson had a fundraising advantage over Winegarner as well, accruing just over $490,000 since April, compared to Winegarner's almost $300,000 haul during that same time period. Jackson won with about 56 percent of the vote, beating Winegarner by more than 11 points.

Jackson, who is a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, was in the running to be Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2018, but ultimately withdrew from consideration amid a swarm of allegations of prior misconduct.

More: Some Americans refuse to mask up. Rules, fines and free masks will change that, experts say.

Former colleagues told Senate investigators that Jackson regularly drank on duty, had an "explosive" temper, and that he abused his powers to prescribe himself prescription drugs for recreational use, among other allegations of misconduct.

Jackson denied all of the allegations leveled against him, calling them "completely false and fabricated." The investigation was opened by the Pentagon inspector general in June 2018 and remains ongoing.

More: Wearing a mask doesn't just protect others from COVID-19, it protects you from infection, perhaps serious illness, too

On election night, Jackson celebrated his win by tweeting, "Jane and I just got off the phone with @realDonaldTrump! It’s official! I am honored to be the Republican nominee for #TX13! I promise I will make you proud!"

Jackson will face off against Gus Trujillo, who won the Democratic runoff election.

Mondaire Jones

Mondaire Jones, a lawyer from Rockland County, won the nomination for long-time incumbent Rep. Nita Lowey’s 17th District seat in New York. The Associated Press did not call the race until about three weeks after it ended, though the nomination was always considered Jones', who had picked up more than double the votes of any other candidate by election night.

His closest competitor, former federal prosecutor Adam Schleifer, had four times Jones’ budget.

Jones received endorsements from progressive members of Congress such as Ocasio-Cortez, Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Jones' campaign did not accept corporate PAC donations, and signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge. He ran on a platform that advocated for labor rights and student debt relief, as well as Medicare for All and paid sick leave as responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like Bowman, he is also a proponent of the Green New Deal.

In an interview with NPR, Jones said that it was his commitment to progressive policies that set him apart during the primary election. "I am the only candidate in a crowded Democratic primary who supports the only policy that would literally ensure everyone has health care in this country and that is Medicare for All," he said.

In the fall, Jones will face Maureen McArdle Schulman, who won the district's Republican nomination.

Jake LaTurner

Kansas state treasurer Jake LaTurner defeated Rep. Steve Watkins in the August GOP primary for Kansas' 2nd District, weeks after Watkins was charged with committing multiple voter fraud felonies.

Watkins, a freshman, was dogged by the charges toward the end of his campaign.

Watkins is accused of altering his voter registration address to a UPS store before voting in a city council race last year — one that was decided by 13 votes — according to The Topeka Capital-Journal.

In July, Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay announced that Watkins was being charged on four counts, three of which were felonies: interference with law enforcement, providing false information, voting without being qualified, and unlawful advance voting.

During a primary debate in July, Watkins said that the charges were meant to foil his election chances.

“This is clearly hyper-political,” he said. “It comes out moments before our first debate and three weeks before the election. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

LaTurner, who beat Watkins by about 15% of the vote, ran on a platform that he called his "Contract with Kansas." The "contract" includes a pledge to institute work requirements for welfare recipients, to co-sponsor an amendment for Congressional term limits, and to support Trump's border wall.

LaTurner will compete against Michelle De La Isla, the Democratic mayor of Topeka, in November.

Marie Newman

Marie Newman, a former management consultant and founder of an anti-bullying non-profit, narrowly beat incumbent Rep. Dan Lipinksi in the Democratic race for Illinois' third district seat in March.

Lipinski's father, William Lipinski, held the seat for more than two decades before his son succeeded him. Newman's win represents the first time the seat will be out of the Lipinski family since 1983.

Lipinski is notoriously one of the last few conservative Democrats in Congress. His opposition to abortion rights, the DREAM Act, and the Affordable Care Act all alienated him from his party. In contrast, Newman was backed by progressive groups such as Justice Democrats, the political action committee that supported Ocasio-Cortez in 2018.

Newman will compete with County Board Member Mike Fricilone, who won the Republican nomination, in the fall.

Tommy Tuberville

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was previously Alabama's U.S. Senator for 20 years, lost his runoff bid to former football coach Tommy Tuberville.

Tuberville considers himself a Christian conservative, and ran a campaign that was pro-life and pro-gun rights. He told the Montgomery Advertiser in March that he supported Trump’s efforts to build a border wall with Mexico, and wanted to reduce the national debt through cuts to social programs, with exceptions for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

The race to see who would compete with Sen. Doug Jones, who flipped the traditionally Republican seat in 2018, also highlighted the rift between Trump and Sessions.

In the early days of Trump's presidency — and during his campaign — Sessions was a prominent ally. Sessions was the first U.S. Senator to endorse Trump's campaign, providing it crucial legitimacy before the 2016 Super Tuesday elections. Sessions publicly supported Trump as early as 2015, sporting a “Make America Great Again” hat at a Trump rally in August 2015 and praising Trump's border wall plans.

More: Illinois GOP congressman criticizes Trump for lack of 'loyalty' to former Attorney General Sessions

Sessions' goodwill with Trump expired when he recused himself from the Russia investigation, which led to Robert Mueller's appointment as special counsel and a nearly two-year investigation that shadowed Trump's early years in office. Trump was not charged, and fired Sessions in 2018.

In a television interview last summer, Trump called Sessions' appointment as attorney general the "biggest mistake" of his presidency.

Although Trump regularly endorses GOP candidates — usually on Twitter — he paid special attention to the race between Sessions and Tuberville, explicitly tying his endorsement of Tuberville to Sessions' recusal.

Tuberville will face off against Jones in November.

Contributing: William Cummings, Brian Lyman, Stephen Gruber-Miller, and Nick Coltrain

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2020 Election: Democrats, Republicans both see Congressional upsets