When former Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan finished a distant fourth in last month's Democratic primary for governor, losing by nearly 50 points to former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, it sent a clear message: the Democratic base is losing patience with Republican defectors who built their political brand on opposing Trump.
Duncan's collapse in Georgia was not an isolated incident. In Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, Ryan Crosswell, a Marine veteran and ex-federal prosecutor who left the Justice Department over a corruption case dismissal, lost by 20 points to state firefighters union head Bob Brooks. The pattern repeated across multiple races as Democratic primary voters signaled they no longer see former Republicans as the solution to their party's problems.
The shift marks a dramatic reversal from the early Trump resistance movement. Just months ago, the Democratic Party actively courted prominent Republican critics. In the final stretch of the 2024 campaign, Kamala Harris crisscrossed the country with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, betting that anti-Trump Republicans could pull rank-and-file GOP voters leftward. The strategy backfired, and Democratic operatives now view that decision very differently.
"Based on what we know now, I would be surprised if you had Kamala Harris out there campaigning with Liz Cheney," said Eric Stern, a Democratic strategist advising one of the successful candidates. "Why would we hand over the keys to the people that drove us off the cliff in the first place?"
The shifting mood extends to candidates still in the field. In Manhattan's 12th Congressional District, George Conway, the ex-husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and one of Trump's most prominent legal critics, is running for an open House seat alongside state Assemblymen Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, plus Kennedy scion Jack Schlossberg. An Emerson College survey released last month showed Conway in fourth place with just 9 percent support.
Andrew Mamo, a spokesperson for The Bench, a group working to boost Democrats in contested primaries, offered a candid explanation for why former Republicans are struggling. "Every former Republican is fantastic to have, but I think there is a real change from 2018," he said. "It is much more about authenticity and who have you always been, and what have your fights looked like. And frankly, a lot of these folks have either worked in D.C. or worked in government, which I think is in a lot of cases a con, not a pro."
Democratic primary voters, according to party strategists, have concluded that Washington experience and government credentials from Republicans are liabilities, not assets. The base is hungrier for economic populism and class-based appeals than for lectures on democratic institutions from former administration officials.
Former Republican candidates argue they are being stereotyped. Olivia Troye, who left the White House in 2020 as an adviser to Mike Pence and became a prominent Trump critic, said the Democratic Party is treating former Republicans as a monolith. She was preparing to run for Congress in Virginia's 7th District before the state Supreme Court threw out the electoral map. "If you put George Conway, me and Geoff Duncan in a room, we probably differ on a lot of things," Troye said. "And I think that is the problem that I'm worried about for the Democratic Party."
Still, the money has kept flowing. Despite his primary loss, Ryan Crosswell outraised his Democratic opponent in Pennsylvania, showing that small-dollar donors remain eager to fund anti-Trump Republicans. But enthusiasm from the party establishment and primary voters has clearly waned.
One exception may prove the rule: David Jolly, a former Republican congressman and long-standing Trump critic, is running for Florida governor as a Democrat and leads in primary polling. His success suggests that pure opposition to Trump alone is insufficient, and that candidates must offer a vision beyond resistance.
George Conway maintains that fighting Trump and building an economic agenda are inseparable. "My pitch to voters is that we all oppose Trump, and we all support initiatives to make life for New Yorkers and Americans generally more affordable," he said. "The two are much more inextricably intertwined than others portray." He believes the Democratic Party was too soft on Trump in 2024 and that aggressive accountability through investigations and impeachment must come first.
Troye believes there is still room for candidates who can prosecute a case against Trump while also addressing voters' material concerns. "The thing is that people are looking for people who are going to stand up and fight for them," she said. "Are you going to fight for the fact that I don't know if I'm going to pay for food today, or if I'm going to pay my insurance bill or if I'm going to pay for gas?"
The 2026 cycle is testing whether the Democratic Party can integrate former Republicans without sacrificing its identity or alienating its base. Early returns suggest the party has lost its appetite for the experiment, preferring homegrown Democrats who earned their stripes in their districts over late converts from the other side.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The anti-Trump Republicans got a golden ticket for five years, but Democrats are now demanding ticket holders actually prove they belong in the theater."
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