Generational change becomes focal point in Texas, North Carolina Democratic battles

Several Democratic primaries in Texas and North Carolina are teeing up generational battles in the party.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), 78, is facing a challenge from newly-elected 37-year-old Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) in Texas’s redrawn 18th Congressional District in the Houston area.

Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.), 69, is fending off a primary challenge from 32-year-old Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam in North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District.

Both contests could offer clues about whether Democratic voters want to see generational change in their officeholders.

Democrats have been mired in a fierce debate over generational change and experience ever since former President Biden’s presidential debate against President Trump in 2024 brought the issue of age and fitness front and center for the party.

Since Trump’s defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, a growing number of Democrats have urged older incumbents to retire from Congress, arguing it’s time to pass the baton.

Nowhere has the issue of age played out more than in Houston’s 18th Congressional District, where two older lawmakers, — Democratic Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, 74, and Sylvester Turner, 70, died in office over just two years.

Now Green – a prominent critic of Trump who was ejected for the second year in a row from a Trump address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday– is being pressed to make the case that he deserves to be reelected for another term despite his age.

Activist David Hogg, who has pushed for generational change in the party, said he wished Green and Menefee could both serve, blaming redistricting by the Texas GOP.

At the same time, he is backing the younger candidate.

“We cannot risk determining whether or not we have the majority in the House. We cannot leave that up to Greg Abbott and God forbid, a situation where Al Green unfortunately passes away in his seat,” said Hogg, whose group Leaders We Deserve is backing both Menefee and Allam. “There is no way of not acting like age is not a factor here.”

Menefee told NBC News in an interview published this week that he wasn’t focusing on the issue of age but said he’s the only one in his contest who has “stood up to the Trump administration.”

Green and his allies, meanwhile, have argued wisdom and experience are an asset to the congressman. Green has been especially vocal against pro-crypto group Fairshake’s involvement in the primary, vowing in a video statement this month “they cannot buy the new 18th Congressional District.”

Fairshake, a network of pro-crypto super PACs that are boosting certain Democrats and Republicans, has several prominent GOP donors such as tech billionaire Marc Andreessen.

Protect Progress, a Fairshake-affiliated super PAC, announced earlier this month it would be spending $1.5 million to oust Green from his seat, pointing out he’s opposed key pieces of pro-crypto legislation.

“Don’t get it twisted!” said Bishop James Dixon II, president of the NAACP’s Houston chapter, at a recent campaign event with Green.

“An aged man with a cane is not a man that’s weak, that’s a man that’s strong!” Dixon said, noting the Biblical story of Moses parting the Red Sea with his staff.

During that same event, Green pointed out that he was unafraid to take on Trump during his recent State of the Union address, in which he raised a sign saying “Black people are not apes” in response to a social media video Trump reposted that depicted former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes. Green was later ejected from the House chamber over the sign.

“It was easy to write, but it was not easy to present, because you know you’re standing before the world when you do it, and you know that you already have colleagues who are antithetical to such a demonstration taking place,” Green said.

In North Carolina, Foushee and Allam are set for a rematch.

Allam told The Hill she felt compelled to run again this cycle because she said Foushee was not fighting back hard enough against the Trump administration amid the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts impacting the district and its hardline immigration crackdown.

“…To have our representative solely just put out a tweet or a strongly worded letter, when so many families were hurting, I couldn’t idly sit by and … look at my residents in good faith and say, ‘Well, you have to wait three years for help,’” Allam said.

Allam is backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the Working Families Party. A member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Fouchee also has endorsements from a mix of progressive and more establishment Democrats, including former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and current Gov. Josh Stein (D).

Foushee said she deserved another term in Congress and cast herself as a progressive fixture in the district, noting her co-sponsoring of the Green New Deal and Medicare for All Act.

“My constituents have clearly voiced to me that they want Congress to pass progressive policies to push this country forward, not simply replacing elected officials with younger ones without results,” Foushee told The Hill in a statement.

“I respect our primary system but do not think this critical moment is the proper time to replace principled leadership with untested lip service,” Foushee added.

The Tuesday primaries are a microcosm of a broader, long-running debate within the party over its direction heading into 2026 and beyond and whether it’s the time for new wave of newer and younger candidates to take the mantle.

While some older incumbents are barreling forward with their reelection efforts, a number of older, prominent members of Congress in both chambers like Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and others are stepping down, with some citing generational change.

While recent polling has suggested Green is at risk of losing reelection next week, Democrats in North Carolina believe that, while the primary may be closer than expected, Foushee is likely to win.

“It’s a bit harder for a progressive to primary [Foushee] because it’s not like she’s a Joe Manchin or a Fetterman, where she has a more moderate voting record. She is very progressive,” Mally Smith, who served as former Vice President Harris’ North Carolina political director during her 2024 White House bid and is not working on either campaign.

“They might have some differing views here [and] there, but they’re broadly ideologically similar,” he added.

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