{"id":110908,"date":"2026-06-10T14:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/how-did-the-generational-change-movement-do-in-californias-election\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T14:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T14:40:10","slug":"how-did-the-generational-change-movement-do-in-californias-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/how-did-the-generational-change-movement-do-in-californias-election\/","title":{"rendered":"How Did the Generational Change Movement Do in California\u2019s Election?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Young Democratic challengers took on their party\u2019s aging congressional representatives, but incumbents largely held on. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Abby Delanoy wears an Eric Jones shirt at the Democratic candidate\u2019s watch party at Three Mile Brewing in Davis on June 2, 2026.<\/span>\u00a0(Gina Castro for KQED)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang, 41, had the greatest success of any challenger, running a close race against Matsui. As of Tuesday afternoon, with 95% of votes counted, Vang is nearly 2 percentage points ahead of Matsui. In the North Bay, former venture capitalist Eric Jones, 35, is still sweating out the final results, sitting less than 2 percentage points<\/a> behind Republican business owner Ray Riehle in a contest for second to face Thompson in the runoff.<\/p>\n

The results hint at what it takes to mount a successful generational challenge. Age alone, it turns out, is not enough. Candidates and analysts point to name recognition, money and redistricting as key factors shaping the outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have a reason other than \u2018the person is old,\u2019\u201d said Christian Grose, a political science professor at the University of Southern California. \u201cYou have to have a case to make for why you would be better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mai Yang Vang, a Hmong community organizer, was born and grew up in Meadowview. (Andrew Nixon\/Capital Public Radio)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Challengers were generally more successful when they could articulate ideological differences, Grose said. For instance, Vang has criticized Matsui for accepting funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), not calling the war in Gaza a genocide and previously voting to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though her position has changed in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cProgressivism, I think, helps in a primary,\u201d Grose said. \u201cA left progressive can get people\u2019s attention, especially with the crowd of [the] governor\u2019s election too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vang also attributes her strong showing to a clear progressive platform, running for something instead of against someone.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you for working families? Are you for making their lives better?\u201d Vang said. \u201cIt can\u2019t just be that you\u2019re anti-Trump. You\u2019ve got to be for these bold issues for our working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addisu Demissie, a veteran Democratic political consultant and former campaign manager for Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s 2018 bid, told KQED<\/a> last week that results prove name recognition remains among the biggest obstacles for newcomers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily an indictment of those candidates or even that much of a celebration of incumbents and incumbency as much as voters tend to go with the name,\u201d Demissie said. \u201cAnd the name frankly has probably provided for you, in some way, constituent services or representation over the course of several years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matsui was first elected in a 2005 special election to fill her husband\u2019s seat after he died of pneumonia; the Matsui name has represented the Sacramento area for a combined 47 years. Waters is also a nationally recognized figure who first took her seat in 1991, and Sherman has served in Congress since 1997.<\/p>\n

Even if voters want generational change broadly, they tend to be less likely to vote against their own representative, Grose said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask somebody, \u2018Do you want younger people in Congress? Do you want to say goodbye to 80-year-olds?\u2019 People say yes,\u201d Grose said. \u201cBut when you ask them about their own Congress member, they really like their own member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake Levine, a 42-year-old former White House climate aide under Presidents Obama and Biden, said his loss to Sherman should not be interpreted as a rejection of the generational message.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that that is less a reflection of whether people want a new generation and more a reflection of some of the structural aspects of this race,\u201d Levine said.<\/p>\n

Levine believes California\u2019s redistricting under Proposition 50<\/a>, whose new maps debuted in this month\u2019s election, worked against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really supported Prop. 50, but at the same time, for my district, that made our district significantly more Republican in terms of its complexion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Eric Jones, Democratic candidate for California\u2019s 4th Congressional District, center, speaks to a supporter at his watch party at Three Mile Brewing in Davis on June 2, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In other cases, Grose said redistricting could work against incumbents like Matsui and Thompson by bringing in a swath of new voters who may be unfamiliar with them, weakening their name recognition advantage. Nearly half of Thompson\u2019s District 4 is now new territory.<\/p>\n

Levine also argues the state Democratic Party \u201cintentionally make[s] it very difficult for challengers,\u201d noting that he was not allowed to speak at the California Democratic Party convention.<\/p>\n

Jones, who challenged Thompson in the North Bay, agreed on this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democratic Party is a party built to protect incumbency,\u201d Jones said. \u201cYou see that the way the party chooses to endorse, where the California Democratic Party has never once in its history endorsed against a congressional incumbent. And I think that is the biggest uphill battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is rare for the state party to back a challenger, but not unprecedented. In 2018, the party endorsed former state Sen. Kevin de Le\u00f3n for U.S. Senate over then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein.<\/p>\n

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With California\u2019s count still ongoing, Jones\u2019 campaign manager Brian Parvizshahi said he remains confident Jones will advance to the general election, where he expects to make up ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you expand the electorate [from the primary to the general election] \u2026 they typically become much more young and much more working class and more people of color. And that\u2019s who makes up Eric Jones\u2019 base,\u201d Parvizshahi said.<\/p>\n

Parvizshahi previously ran Rep. Ro Khanna\u2019s 2014 and 2016 campaigns against Rep. Mike Honda. In 2014, Khanna gained 17 points between the primary and general election. He lost, but returned to defeat Honda in 2016.<\/p>\n

Parvizshahi believes Jones could follow a similar trajectory, arguing that the longer runway to November offers time to build name recognition and that a younger, more diverse general election electorate could help him close the current 16-point gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never good for an incumbent to be under 50%,\u201d Parvizshahi said. Thompson is currently sitting at 38% of the vote. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty damning. That\u2019s 62% of the electorate saying, \u2018I do not want you as my congressman.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic strategist Orrin Evans said if Jones does squeak through to the general election, it would indicate voters have an appetite for the generational change message.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf two out of five made it through, I would say that\u2019s a pretty good night for the kids,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n

Money proved to be the biggest hurdle for Sacramento City Councilmember Vang. She raised roughly $800,000, significantly less than Matsui\u2019s $1.5 million. Matsui also loaned her campaign an additional $1.4 million.<\/p>\n

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Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti converses with his supporters during an election night event at The Chapel on June 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (Gustavo Hernandez\/KQED)<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe always knew we were going to be outspent,\u201d Vang said. \u201cThe only way to beat money is to have organized people. And that\u2019s what we did. We knocked on thousands of doors and spoke to thousands of voters. We did it because this region is ready for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Money didn\u2019t guarantee challengers would sail through to the general election. Compared to Thompson\u2019s $3.4 million, Jones raised $3 million and poured in an additional $5.2 million of his own money and still found himself fighting for second place.<\/p>\n

In San Francisco, Saikat Chakrabarti announced his intent to run for Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u2019s seat before the 86-year-old said she would not run for reelection. Chakrabarti\u2019s incredible $8.8 million in loans to his campaign also did not get him into the runoff, which has been called for state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan.<\/p>\n

Despite the many hurdles these young challengers face, Grose said this cycle gave them their best shot at a congressional seat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would do really bad in a crowded field of 40-somethings in an open seat,\u201d he said. \u201cTrying to run against an old person who\u2019s an incumbent is the better strategy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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