What Went Down In Elections In Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont And Connecticut
Filed under 2022 Election
Keeping Congress All In The Family
In Wisconsin’s 3rd District, former CIA officer Deb McGrath is seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed retiring Rep. Ron Kind. But she’s also aiming to join a more exclusive club: children of members of Congress who go on to serve in Congress themselves.
McGrath’s father, Al Baldus, represented Wisconsin’s 3rd District for three terms, from 1975 to 1981. It’s why in the closing months of the campaign, McGrath has emphasized her lineage, even adding her maiden name to her promotional materials.
If she wins the primary (and the general, where she’d be the underdog against GOP nominee Derrick Van Orden), McGrath will join a group that currently numbers just 14 among 535 members — including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (daughter of former Maryland Rep. Tom D’Alesandro).
McGrath isn’t the only one hoping to join their ranks. In New Jersey’s 8th District, Robert Menendez Jr. is a shoo-in to follow in the footsteps of his father, Sen. Bob Menendez, who was a member of the New Jersey House delegation in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But at least two congressional family trees have already been pruned this year. In Michigan’s 11th District, Rep. Andy Levin (son of former Rep. Sander Levin) lost renomination in a member vs. member primary against Rep. Haley Stevens. And California Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (daughter of longtime former Rep. Ed Roybal) is retiring at the end of the year.
Several more legacy admissions are at risk of getting expelled, too. Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, whose father Dick was a congressman in the 1980s (and later vice president in the 2000s), is a heavy underdog against her Trump-endorsed opponent next week. And Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowksi, whose father, former Sen. Frank Murkowski, put her in her seat in 2004, is likely to face a tough reelection against a Trump-endorsed opponent in November.
But if Murkowski makes it through, she could form quite the team with Alaska House special election candidate Nick Begich III: His grandfather, Nick Begich, Sr., represented the Last Frontier in Congress from 1971-72.