When Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow ended her Senate campaign Sunday, it marked the end of a bid for a candidate who had run with great fanfare and a national brand, seen by many as a rising star in the party.
Organizers of the 2024 Democratic National Convention gave McMorrow a coveted speaking slot to take aim at Project 2025. She received loud cheers in the arena for her impassioned speech – which memorably included a large copy of the pro-Trump political plan — and was able to introduce himself to millions more Americans across the country as a promising young leader of the party.
Less than two years later, McMorrow was eliminated from the Michigan Senate race. She ended her campaign Sunday, after placing third in the August primary. And she’s far from alone among the 2024 Democratic convention speakers floundering on the national stage.
She joins Reps. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, influencers Deja Foxx and Kennedy descending Jack Schlossbergand Republicans-turned-Democrats Kyle Sweetser and former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncanall of whom have lost contested primaries since speaking at the 2024 convention.
And others could soon join their ranks: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz appears likely to be a victim of redistricting in Florida, while Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez. followed two rivals in polls dating back to the spring. The two will face primary voters next month. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, meanwhile, advanced to a general election runoff against a Democratic rival, progressive City Council member Nithya Raman, in a tight race, while Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, another convention chairwoman, is locked in a tight Senate primary with Rep. Angie Craig.
Other convention speakers, like McMorrow, cut their campaigns short, including Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration official. who ended his candidacy for Congress after the Supreme Court of Virginia overturned a new congressional map that voters approved; former Rep. Colin Allred, who ended his Senate campaign in Texas before winning a primary for his old House seat; and California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who dropped out of the competitive gubernatorial race and instead launched a bid for state treasurer.
Democratic strategists across the party’s ideological spectrum said they found the trend notable, if only because it highlighted an issue they’re grappling with on the campaign trail: Having ties to the party establishment increasingly hurts candidates.
“A prime-time time slot at the convention is starting to look less like a launching pad and more like a warning label,” Democratic strategist Alyssa Cass said, adding, “In this environment, the blessing of the establishment is a liability.”
“What all this tells me is the extent to which they have become gatekeepers to a party that no one wants to come to,” continued Cass, who has worked with candidates including Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., and New York state Rep. Alex Bores, who failed in a House primary last month.
This trend is an exception compared to other recent Democratic nominating conventions, where fewer speakers were defeated in the first two years after their speech. In 2020, only a handful of these candidates ended up losing primary elections: Rep. Conor Lamb, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta both fell to lieutenant. Gov. John Fetterman in a contested Senate primary; former DNC Chairman Tom Perez lost a gubernatorial primary in Maryland; Nikki Fried, then Florida’s agriculture commissioner, fell in her state’s primary for governor; and businessman and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang lost the New York City mayoral primary.
Even fewer lost such races after the 2016 convention. This cycle saw then-Rep. Joe Crowley of New York loses a primary to current Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while Californians Loretta Sanchez and Kevin de León lost Senate general elections to their state’s Democrats in successive years.
Tré Easton, a former top aide to Fetterman in the Senate who now works at the Searchlight Institute, a new liberal think tank, said that while he doesn’t believe there is “a straight line” between speaking at the convention and losing these contested primaries, voters view with skepticism candidates “who vaguely reek of the establishment or the status quo.”
“I think Democratic primary voters are pissed off,” he said, adding, “It’s not surprising that people who would have enough credibility within the establishment to receive a slot to speak at Kamala Harris’ inauguration convention are not doing well in this type of environment.”
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.
Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman under then-President Joe Biden, said the throughline he sees in these primaries where convention speakers have failed is voters’ desire for ambitious economic reforms and more direct party leadership.
“Some Democrats, including me, were so obsessed with the danger of Trump and MAGA that they spent too much energy ‘admiring the problem’ and didn’t listen enough to voters,” he said. “The party’s answers to people’s biggest questions were therefore inadequate, and it could seem like reflexively defending institutions, or even promoting a cancel culture, were more important priorities than fighting for economic opportunity and community safety.”
The only convention speakers who have emerged from significant primary contests so far are Rep. Grace Meng of New York, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms — who won a hotly contested primary for governor of her state, a race that also included another convention speaker in Duncan — and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who won a primary for governor of New Mexico.
Progressives have long contested how the 2024 convention handled Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. Most notably, Democrats have failed to respond. platform a Palestinian American speaker to address the convention. Today, these DNC spokespeople have participated or are participating in elections where candidates’ positions on Israel have become a dividing line.
“This refusal still casts a shadow,” Andrew Bard Epstein, communications director for Claire Valdez, a democratic socialist and New York state lawmaker who just won a contested congressional primary last month, said of Democrats’ choice not to have a Palestinian speaker at the convention. “It’s no surprise that those who made this decision are no longer able to spot rising stars.”
To be sure, the 2024 convention featured a number of speakers looking to play a key role in the party’s future heading into the next presidential cycle, including Ocasio-Cortez and Govs. JB Pritzker of Illinois, Wes Moore of Maryland, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, among others. And some of the losing candidates faced campaign dynamics that were far removed from national trends, like Foxx, who had to run against the daughter of the congressman she was seeking to succeed, and Schlossberg, who was hammered by her opponents over her inexperience and thin resume.
A Democratic strategist who has worked with center-left candidates this cycle said this trend is not necessarily indicative of a divide between progressives and moderates. Rather, they see it as a confrontation between insiders and outsiders.
“Voters remember the 2024 DNC as the party where everyone told them we were going to win, and then we lost,” this person said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment. “Why the hell would they reward this crew? … So it should be no surprise that not being invited to the DNC is a better slogan than being put on that stage.”
Notably, even as far-left candidates experience new successes overthrow the incumbents In recent weeks, Democratic candidates in swing districts are mainly from the center-left wing of the party. But even some of their allies fear that these more moderate leaders are out of step with the electorate.
“I just worry that the centrist Democrats are missing the moment,” said a Pennsylvania Democratic operative, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer a frank assessment, adding: “I think you see people like McMorrow, who weren’t even centrists, but just wanted to be a little bit of everything. … And people were like, ‘Well, that’s nothing.'”
“Sometimes we think we know who our best players are on the bench,” this person added. “But then voters come forward and say, ‘Absolutely not, we need more than that.’”
