Democratic Party

Anti-Incumbency’s First Real Casualty

By Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | May 12, 2010 | +

Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia lost his bid for a 15th term in Congress Tuesday night as state Senator Mike Oliverio wrested the party nomination from the 28-year veteran lawmaker’s grasp.

Mollohan, whose father represented West Virginia’s first district before him, fell prey to a fierce anti-Washington campaign capitalizing on years of ethics complaints and a volatile environment. Oliverio will likely fare better in a tight general election against former West Virginia Republican Party Chair David McKinley than his opponent would have. Mollohan spent the primary trying to paint Oliverio as too conservative — not really much of a liability in a district carried by Bush and McCain — but Oliverio found coal country traction in his vociferous opposition to climate legislation.

For all the fuss made over GOP Senator Bob Bennett’s failure to recapture his party’s nomination last weekend, he was ultimately the casualty of a delegate vote by 3,500 Republican activists, not a rejection by the broader electorate. Mollohan, who hadn’t faced a competitive race since the ’90s, is the first House incumbent to fail a primary test this cycle, and was seemingly punished directly by the voters for his entrenchment in the Washington establishment. Mollohan’s legacy seat, cardinal role in appropriations, muddy ethics history and party loyalty made for a perfect storm of anti-incumbent backlash.

But one loss does not a trend make. The nature of the cycle will come into stark relief next week when Democratic Senators Arlen Specter and Blanche Lincoln face their own primary challenges in Pennsylvania and Arkansas.

Related Topics: alan mollohan, Mike Oliverio, west virginia, 2012 Election, Democratic Party

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  • metsaj

    One thing I notice about the anti-incumbency, is also age. David Obey is 71, Bennett is in his 70′s, Mollohan is 28 years of service; Arlyn Spector is looking for another term at 80. We are also seeing a generational shift.

  • http://www.flickr.com/hubbmax hubbmax

    I hope you’re right.
    That’s a GOOD thing!

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    It is very hard to be polite about this.
    .
    For all the fuss made over GOP Senator Bob Bennett’s failure to recapture his party’s nomination last weekend, he was ultimately the casualty of a delegate vote by 3,500 Republican activists, not a rejection by the broader electorate.
    .
    It is MUCH more fuss-worthy that a convention, composed of people who have worked their way through the party’s infrastructure, would dump an incumbent. Convention attendees are much more focused on the future of the party (hence their own) than ordinary voters, generally serving as a check on short term trends. Primaries can be unpredictable, conventions seldom are.

    But, yes, anti incumbency is running very high. Please note, pundits who thought that Specter could run as a party switching incumbent, and win.

  • sacredh

    One aspect of the anti-incumbency fever that I don’t believe we’ve hit on is that with so many potential rookies getting elected, we’re going to have a basically clueless group hitting DC at the same time. It always takes a fair amount of time to figure out how Washington works. They’re still not going to head the committees. They’re still not going to set the policy. They’re going to be the low men on the totem poll.

    Having so many neophytes come in all at once isn’t going to make things work better or go smoother. It’s going to have the opposite effect. Are they going to change Washington or is Washington going to change them? Even if all 33 senators up for re-election lose, that still means that 2/3′s are still going to be the same faces that were there last year.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    I don’t even see a story here in the terms you wrote it in:
    “Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia… [did not escape from ]… years of ethics complaints” and is the first example of an incumbent loosing their party nomination. “But one loss does not a trend make.”

    The headline should be “Democrats dislike unethical congressmen, even if they agree with their politics.”

    When Joe Lieberman, a career DINO, lost the Democratic nomination in 2006, that was an anti-incumbent rebellion.

    If Connecticut Democrats send somebody to Washington to defend progressive values and to represent the people who put him there and then, as soon as he shakes a few Republicans hands starts turning into a Republican totally unlike what the liberal and progressive people who elected him want, then, after eighteen long years he would get purged.

    Alan Mollohan is just a crook and, even thought Republicans seem ready and eager to be represented by crooks, Democrats don’t.

  • apollyon07

    The delegates aren’t the ones who get to vote in November.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Staff will run DC.
    .
    That’s always been what I think is the folly of term limits-the front is gone but the people behind the scenes (who aren’t directly held responsible via the ballot) gain even more juice.

  • sacredh

    You’re right of course. My biggest concern is the degree of fever the incoming freshman exhibit. If they decide the staff doesn’t isn’t sufficiently “pure”, I think the next congress could turn out to be a real clusterf**k.

  • apr2563

    That is why term limits stink. It leaves staff with way too much power.
    I think Mollohan deserved to be defeated but his replacement is even more a righty.
    Oh, well the blue dogs will be even more blue.

  • 3xfire3

    Patrick,
    .
    You live in a dream world of denial. There have been as many if not more crooked democrats in congress as there have been republicans. You’re in ability to see the truth only illustrates your closed mind. You need to wake up and look at the real world not your dreams of how you wish things were.

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