Running against a well-known and well-financed front-runner can be frustrating, and most of the candidates on the ballot this year are struggling for attention and campaign contributions.
The First Congressional District in Eastern Virginia has seven candidates in the Democratic primary, although Henrico prosecutor Shannon Taylor has more money and more name recognition than all of her competitors. That's frustrating for candidates who have to raise enough money just to get endorsement interviews, candidates like Tim Cywinski.
"The thing about all of those endorsements, all of the money that is required to just get even in the room — those are the groups that claim that they have everybody's best interest in mind," Cywinski says. "They're the ones that claim that they're trying to make our politics better. But if you make money a keystone of all of the things that you do, then, in my opinion, you're kind of full of it."
Many of the candidates on the ballot this are running against longtime incumbents like Congressman Don Beyer of Alexandria. He's facing four opponents in the Democratic primary, including Adam Dunigan.
"Everyone kind of wants the David and Goliath fight, and we are seeing at least a few Davids around the country beat the Goliaths. And whether it's fair or not to paint the entire Democratic Party establishment with the same brush, everybody's angry," says Dunigan. "Like, everyone outside of Democratic committee rooms is angry at the stagnation of the Democratic Party and their inability to stop the encroachment of a second Trump term."
The primary is four weeks away, and early voting has already started.
