In politics, the smartest path to winning can sometimes begin with stepping aside.
That is the message some Democrats are sending to candidates in key Senate contests, urging them to abandon long-shot campaigns if doing so could improve the party’s odds in the November elections.
Democratic strategists are focused on the four Senate pickups they need to take control from Republicans. But in deeply conservative states, party officials are weighing a more pragmatic strategy: backing the contender with the best chance, even if that person is not running as a Democrat.
“For Democrats in some of these races where the independent has a much better shot, it’s really incumbent on those Democrats to put their ego aside,” Neera Tanden, a political consultant and former adviser to multiple presidents, told NBC News.
In Nebraska, that calculation recently became reality when Democratic Senate nominee Cindy Burbank ended her campaign and had her name removed from the ballot.
Her exit cleared the way for a direct matchup between Republican incumbent Senator Pete Ricketts and independent Dan Osborn, a repeat candidate who has drawn quiet support from Democrats despite not formally aligning himself with the party.
Burbank did not immediately throw her support behind Osborn after leaving the race, though she had previously signaled that she favored his bid.
Nebraska Democratic Party chair Jane Kleeb had already been promoting Osborn’s campaign on X, arguing that “a coalition of Dems, Indys, and Republicans can beat Ricketts.”
Osborn (R), pictured with his wife in 2024, is running his second independent Senate campaign against a Republican Nebraska incumbent
Ricketts speaks during a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on June 5, 2024
Risch speaks to reporters after after senators met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday
Idaho Democratic Senate nominee David Roth dropped out last week, leaving independent Todd Achilles to run against GOP incumbent Senator Jim Risch.
Roth did not endorse Achilles, but had faced pressure to drop out and support the independent’s campaign from both a former Democratic Congressman and party leadership in Idaho’s most populous county, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.
Democratic strategists are now asking their own nominees in South Dakota and Montana, Julian Beaudion and Alani Bankhead, to drop out as well, according to NBC News.
To date, Beaudion and Bankhead have not complied, despite polling that indicates independent candidates Brian Bengs and Seth Bodnar have a much better chance of defeating their Republican opponents in the fall.
The party also knows that money spent by Republicans in red states like South Dakota is money that cannot be spent in more competitive states like Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina.
Democrats have pursued a similar, if not identical, strategy in some primary elections as well, seeking to position themselves as well as possible for the November general elections by avoiding progressive candidates.
In Michigan, for example, establishment Congresswoman Haley Stevens is duking it out with progressive insurgent Abdul El-Sayed in a vicious primary for the Democratic Senate nomination.
Stevens speaks with supporters at a campaign event on Wednesday, six days before Michigan’s Senate primary
El-Sayed, a committed progressive, speaks on Monday during the final debate between himself and Stevens
State Senator Mallory McMorrow dropped out of this primary in early July. While some strategists believed McMorrow’s exit would benefit Stevens, the more moderate remaining candidate, it was not immediately clear that was the case.
El-Sayed has enjoyed a double-digit lead in several public polls released last week.
Stevens and Democratic leaders like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have maintained that her relative moderacy will better position her to take on GOP nominee Mike Rogers in November – a claim El-Sayed staunchly denies.
Michigan Democrats will choose their nominee in a much-anticipated primary on Tuesday, setting the stage for a battleground Senate race with significant national implications.
The chaotic Wisconsin gubernatorial primary has seen similar efforts at consolidation behind a moderate candidate who is believed to be more palatable to a November electorate.
Favorable polling for democratic socialist and state Representative Francesca Hong has panicked moderate Democrats who fear that nominating Hong could hand the Democratic-held governorship to the Republican nominee in November.
Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, a more moderate candidate, was the frontrunner until an embarrassing campaign finance scandal led her to drop out of the race on July 17.
In an effort to ward off Hong, moderate Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had previously left the race, took advantage of Rodriguez’s collapse to jump back in.
Crowley (L) looks on as democratic socialist candidate Hong talks during a gubernatorial debate on Tuesday
Barnes speaks during a debate just two days before his decision to drop out of Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers endorsed Crowley after his reentry.
But Hong continues to poll well, contributing to former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes’s Thursday decision to drop out.
‘It’s become very clear who our nominee is going to be,’ Barnes said in a Facebook video announcing his decision.
He may also have been influenced by the impending publication of some problematic news stories probing relationships with female staffers, according to Politico.
Crowley asked on social media for the support of those who would have voted for Barnes.
Nearly 128,000 Democrats have already voted in Wisconsin’s August 11 primary, further complicating the party’s efforts to change the outcome of the race.
