Young Democrats challenge longtime incumbents as party grapples with generational divide

There is a growing wave of young Democrats who have launched bids to shake up the party’s ranks by ousting incumbent House members in deep blue seats. They see voter frustrations with Democrats’ ineffective response to President Donald Trump’s actions as a mandate to remake the party.

In his bid to unseat Rep. Andre Carson, the 50-year-old Democrat who has represented Indiana’s 7th Congressional District since 2008, 34-year-old challenger George Hornedo has argued the Democratic Party isn’t working, nationally or locally. Some voters in the district are open to hearing him out. Maria Langston, a 69-year-old retiree and longtime Carson supporter, said she “would be open” to voting for Hornedo. She added that she wanted Carson to increase his “visibility within the neighborhood” and play more of a role in building the Democratic Party, which is out of power across all branches of Indiana’s government and has few pockets of political clout outside Indianapolis, the solidly blue population center in the deep-red state. “We have to rebuild our leaders. We have to identify the leaders,” she said. “A lot of people have become too complacent, and that might be some of our Democratic leaders.” Putting a finer point on her message to the party, Langston added: “Come on, Democrats — let’s do something.” Hornedo is part of a growing wave of young Democrats who have launched bids to shake up the party’s ranks by ousting incumbent House members in deep blue seats. They see voter frustrations with what they’ve described as Democrats’ ineffective response to President Donald Trump’s actions as a mandate to remake the party.