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Democratic Party primaries, 2022
| 2022 Democratic Party primary elections |
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| Battleground primaries |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds State executive battlegrounds |
| Federal primaries |
| U.S. Senate primaries U.S. House primaries U.S. House primaries with multiple incumbents |
| State primaries |
| Gubernatorial primaries Attorney General primaries Secretary of State primaries State legislative primaries |
| Primary overviews |
| Democratic Party primaries, 2022 Republican Party primaries, 2022 Top-two and top-four battleground primaries, 2022 U.S. House battleground primaries, 2022 |
| Primaries by state |
Ballotpedia covered every Democratic Party state and federal primary in 2022 to highlight the intraparty conflicts that shaped the party and the general election. This page is an overview of those primaries, with links to Ballotpedia's coverage of all Democratic U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and state-level primaries.
Click here to read about Republican Party primaries in 2022.
Federal primaries
- See also: United States Congress elections, 2022
All 435 U.S. House seats and 34 U.S. Senate seats were up for regular election on November 8, 2022. Special elections were also held.
Ballotpedia's coverage of Democratic federal election primaries in 2022 is linked below:
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2022
- United States Senate Democratic Party primaries, 2022
State primaries
Ballotpedia's coverage of Democratic state legislative and executive primaries in 2022 is linked below:
- State legislative Democratic primaries, 2022
- Democratic Party gubernatorial primaries, 2022
- Democratic Party Attorney General primaries, 2022
- Democratic Party Secretary of State primaries, 2022
Primaries by state
All 50 states held primaries for state or federal offices in 2022. In Louisiana, all candidates appeared on the November 8 primary ballot regardless of partisan affiliation. If one candidate received more than 50% of the vote, they won the election outright. Otherwise, the top two candidates advanced to a general election on December 10.
Major themes in the 2022 Democratic primaries
Build Back Better and Infrastructure Act positions in spotlight
Throughout the year, incumbent Democrats' positions on the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Build Back Better Act were points of debate in primaries. The conflicts involved arguments over bipartisanship, divisiveness, and furthering the president's agenda.
In August 2021, the House passed a resolution to advance both the infrastructure and Build Back Better bills. The resolution contained a nonbinding commitment to vote on the infrastructure bill in September (which did not happen). The House passed the infrastructure bill and then Build Back Better in November. The Senate didn't take up Build Back Better. Both chambers passed and President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a smaller reconciliation bill, in 2022.
The Infrastructure bill "no" voters
Six lawmakers said they voted against the infrastructure bill because it was separated from the Build Back Better Act. Among the six, four faced primary opposition: Reps. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Cori Bush (MO-01), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13). Each faced criticism from opponents and opponents' supporters for their votes.
Critics, including the incumbents' primary opponents, said the representatives were divisive and not focused on getting results. The representatives said passing the infrastructure bill separately from Build Back Better threatened the fate of the latter bill.
Each of the four incumbents above won their primaries. For more on the conflict in each of the races, including quotes from candidates and opponents, see the Heart of the Primaries stories below.
The budget resolution debaters
Nine Democratic House members signed a letter in August 2021 saying they would not support a budget resolution needed to pass Build Back Better unless a vote on the infrastructure bill, which the Senate had passed, happened first. Reps. Henry Cuellar (TX-28) and Carolyn Bourdeaux (GA-07) were among the nine who signed.
The letter said, "The country is clamoring for infrastructure investment and commonsense, bipartisan solutions. This legislation does both[.] … [W]e simply can’t afford months of unnecessary delays and risk squandering this once-in-a-century, bipartisan infrastructure package."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) held a rally for Jessica Cisneros, who challenged Cuellar in a rematch in 2022. Ocasio-Cortez said, "If you’re upset about Build Back Better, you can elect Jessica Cisneros."
And in Georgia's 7th, where Boudeaux faced fellow incumbent Lucy McBath (D) due to redistricting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Patricia Murphy and Greg Bluestein wrote that "Bourdeaux drew the wrath of progressive groups -- and [Stacey] Abrams allies -- for joining other moderates with a stand that threatened to derail a $3.5 trillion social policy plan."
Bourdeaux and Cuellar supported the budget resolution with the nonbinding agreement and both bills when they came up in November. Cuellar won a primary runoff against Cisneros, while Bourdeaux lost to McBath.
Three satellite groups spent $55 million in Democratic primaries in 2022
Throughout the year, the satellite groups United Democracy Project, Protect our Future PAC, and Democratic Majority for Israel made headlines for their involvement in Democratic U.S. House primaries. According to Open Secrets data as of September 14, 2022, the groups spent a combined $55 million of the total $106 million all groups spent in those primaries. United Democracy Project and Protect Our Futures PAC were the biggest spenders at $24 million a piece.
United Democracy Project is a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The group spent $14 million supporting Democratic primary candidates and $11 million opposing Democratic candidates.
United Democracy Project made its largest expenditure in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District primary. We covered conflict over the group's involvement in the race, and J Street Action Fund's counter-involvement, in our July 14 issue. United Democracy Project spent $4.3 million opposing former U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards and $1.7 million supporting former Prince George's County state attorney Glenn Ivey. Ivey defeated Edwards 51% to 35% in the July 19 primary.
The group also spent $3.9 million supporting Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District. Stevens defeated fellow incumbent Andy Levin 59.5% to 40.5%. For stories on satellite spending in Michigan’s 11th and the candidates' positions on Israel, see our March 10, July 7, and August 4 issues.
Protect Our Future PAC is associated with cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried. According to Open Secrets, $23.3 million (96%) of the group's expenditures supported Democratic candidates.
Protect Our Future PAC spent $10.4 million supporting Carrick Flynn in Oregon's newly created 6th Congressional District Democratic primary. The group spent $936,000 opposing Andrea Salinas. Salinas, the only Democratic primary candidate Protect Our Future PAC spent against, won the May 17 primary with 36% of the vote. Flynn finished second with 18%.
Protect Our Future PAC’s spending made Oregon’s 6th District the congressional district with the most satellite spending this primary season. See our April 14 and May 19 issues for more on the group's involvement in this district.
Democratic Majority for Israel spent $6.6 million in Democratic primaries. Almost half was spent in Ohio’s 11th Congressional District. The group spent $1.6 million supporting Shontel Brown and $1.5 million opposing Nina Turner, who were in a rematch from last year's special primary election. (Note that figures include spending in both the special and regular primaries.) Protect Our Future PAC and United Democracy Project were also active in this race, both spending to favor Brown's re-election. Brown defeated Turner in the May 3 primary 66% to 34%.
Democratic Majority for Israel was also active in Illnois' 6th District, where Rep. Sean Casten defeated Rep. Marie Newman 68% to 29%. The group spent more than $500,000 opposing Newman. See our March 10, May 19, and June 30 issues for more on this group's involvement in 2022's primaries.
Redistricting and the primaries: By the numbers
The 2022 primaries were the first using new district boundaries enacted after the 2020 census. Forty-four states adopted new congressional district maps. Six states had only one congressional district.
Forty-nine states adopted new legislative district boundaries, except for Montana. The state's Legislature only meets in odd-numbered years and adjourned before the U.S. Census Bureau delivered data to the states on Aug. 12, 2021.
Seven new congressional districts
There were seven new congressional districts as a result of six states gaining U.S. House districts during apportionment: Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas (which gained two seats).
Seven states—California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia—lost one district each.
Six member vs. member elections
As a result of redistricting, six U.S. House districts had two incumbents running against each other in their party's primaries (winner is in bold):
- Georgia's 7th: Carolyn Bourdeaux (D) vs. Lucy McBath (D)
- Illinois' 6th: Sean Casten (D) vs. Marie Newman (D)
- Illinois' 15th: Rodney Davis (R) vs. Mary Miller (R)
- Michigan's 11th: Andy Levin (D) vs. Haley Stevens (D)
- New York's 12th: Carolyn Maloney (D) vs. Jerry Nadler (D)
- West Virginia's 2nd: David McKinley (R) vs. Alex Mooney (R)
In the 2012 House elections following the most recent round of redistricting, 11 primaries featured two incumbents: seven Democratic, three Republican, and one all-party primary in Louisiana with two Republican incumbents.
Two House general elections in 2022 were set to feature two incumbents in November: Neal Dunn (R) against Al Lawson (D) in Florida's 2nd and Mayra Flores (R) against Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D) in Texas' 34th.
Click here for more on these multi-member matchups.
In 2022, there were 48 incumbent vs. incumbent state legislative primaries: 16 for Democrats and 32 for Republicans.
Two rescheduled primaries
Two states held contests for different types of offices on two different dates because of court decisions regarding redistricting.
New York held statewide and state Assembly primaries as originally scheduled on June 28 and congressional and state Senate primaries on Aug. 23. The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, overturned the state's congressional and state Senate maps on April 27, ruling that both violated the state's constitutional redistricting process.
Ohio held congressional and statewide primary elections on May 3 and legislative primaries on Aug. 2. The Ohio Supreme Court struck down the state's adopted legislative district boundaries on April 14, after previously overturning three other sets of legislative maps that the legislature or state redistricting commission had approved. The state ultimately used maps the Ohio Redistricting Commission adopted.
U.S. House incumbent primary losses exceed last two redistricting cycles
Overall, 15 House incumbents lost in 2022 primaries—nine Republicans and six Democrats. (Those figures include Republican Bob Gibbs (OH-07), who unofficially withdrew but whose name still appeared on the ballot.) Six incumbent losses were inevitable in 2022 due to primaries featuring two incumbents. Still, the number exceeded the previous two post-redistricting elections in 2012 and 2002. In 2012, 13 House incumbents lost primaries. And in 2002, eight incumbents lost.
Here is 2022's list of defeated U.S. House incumbents:
- Carolyn Bourdeaux (D) - Georgia's 7th
- Mondaire Jones (D) - New York's 10th
- Andy Levin (D) - Michigan's 11th
- Carolyn Maloney (D) - New York's 12th
- Marie Newman (D) - Illinois' 6th
- Kurt Schrader (D) - Oregon's 5th
- Madison Cawthorn (R) - North Carolina's 11th
- Liz Cheney (R) - Wyoming's At-Large District
- Rodney Davis (R) - Illinois' 15th
- Bob Gibbs (R) - Ohio's 7th
- Jaime Herrera Beutler (R) - Washington's 3rd
- David McKinley (R) - West Virginia's 2nd
- Peter Meijer (R) - Michigan's 3rd
- Steven Palazzo (R) - Mississippi's 4th
- Tom Rice (R) - South Carolina's 7th
See also
- Republican Party primaries, 2022
- Democratic Party primaries, 2020
- The Heart of the Primaries
- Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering primary elections
Footnotes
