Fifteen Congressional incumbents lost preliminary contests during the recently-completed 2022 midterm primary cycle, nearly double those denied renominations in 2020 primaries and the highest number of sitting reps ousted by party rivals since the 1980s.
The 15 defeated incumbents—nine Republicans, six Democrats—top the 14 sitting House reps unseated in 1992 primaries that presaged 1994’s midterm conservative capture of the House under Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and the 13 booted from office in 2012’s primaries when Tea Party activists rattled the GOP.
But the fact that more incumbents lost preliminary nomination races in 2022 than, perhaps, in 40 years, is not evidence of an emerging anti-incumbent trend but confirmation that sitting Congressional reps and Senators rarely lose reelection bids….