Riggleman Becomes Third Member Of Congress To Lose Renomination In 2020–And He Probably Won’t Be The Last

Riggleman was defeated by Liberty University staffer Bob Good—a social conservative who took aim at Riggleman for officiating a same-sex wedding—at a district convention on Saturday, though Riggleman has refused to concede, alleging “voting irregularities and ballot stuffing.”

This follows the primary losses of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who was stripped of his committee assignments and lost much of his party support over comments he made in 2019 supporting white nationalism, and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), whose anti-abortion and anti-Obamacare stances were seen as out of touch with the modern Democratic Party.

But there may be more successful primary challenges yet to come, especially in New York, where Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) faces an uphill battle in the state’s June 23 primary due to controversies about his absence from his district during the coronavirus pandemic and for getting caught on hot mic at a George Floyd rally saying “if I didn’t have a primary, I wouldn’t care.”

Engel’s primary opponent, Jamaal Bowman, received the coveted New York Times endorsement on Saturday, as did Rep. Yvette Clarke’s (D-N.Y.) primary challenger Adam Bunkedekko, who lost to Clarke in the 2018 primary by just 3 points.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass), a champion of progressive causes like the Green New Deal and Medicare-for-all, has a fierce primary challenger in Joe Kennedy III, grandson of Bobby Kennedy, who has led every public poll of the race, including an Emerson poll in May which had him leading by 16 points.

Another progressive with tough renomination odds is Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who is facing a rematch with Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, who she defeated in the 2018 primary by just 1 point, even as Jones simultaneously won a special election for the seat by 2 points.