House Democrats expand the map — and the definition of a Democrat

With less than 50 days until Election Day, House Democrats are once again adding more candidates to their top recruits list — including, notably, one who is not a Democrat.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee on Tuesday is announcing the additions to its “Red to Blue” program, which gives candidates access to strategic guidance, staffing and fundraising help. The additions were shared first with MS NOW.

The list of new candidates includes Bill Hill, an independent running for Alaska’s at-large House seat; Will Lawrence, a Democrat challenging Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan; and Mitchell Berman, who is trying to unseat Republican Rep. Bryan Steil in Wisconsin.

The additions bring the total number of “Red to Blue” candidates for the cycle to 40.

Together, the three show a party trying to expand its map — geographically and ideologically — at a time when redistricting has left few traditional battlegrounds intact.

Hill, a fisherman and former school superintendent, finished second in Alaska’s nonpartisan primary, behind the Republican incumbent. The Alaska Democratic Party endorsed him after it said it secured policy commitments from him on organized labor and abortion rights.

MS NOW asked Hill this weekend, after a fisheries debate in Kodiak, whether the Democratic brand is a liability in his state. He did not answer directly.

“What I can tell you about that is Alaskans, by and large, we don’t align ourselves with a party,” Hill said. “We want to make our own decisions, and you’ll find that people will vote cross ticket on every election, and so we’re just tough to define.”

Most Alaska voters are neither Republicans nor Democrats, instead registering as nonpartisan or “undeclared,” according to the state Division of Elections. Alaska, which is home to a competitive U.S. Senate race this year, backed President Donald Trump by a 13-point margin in 2024.

The last time the DCCC added a non-Democrat to “Red to Blue,” a spokesperson said, was in 2020, when the program backed Alyse Galvin, who was also running for Alaska’s House seat.

Lawrence, a progressive organizer and a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, won the nomination in Michigan’s 7th District in a primary that laid bare the party’s divide between its progressive and moderate wings, defeating a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and a retired Navy SEAL. Trump carried the district by roughly a point in 2024; Barrett won it by about three.

Lawrence has been dogged, though, by his past comments — including describing Black political leaders as a “pillar” of the “capitalist imperialist” American establishment. Lawrence has said he regrets those comments.

Berman, a nurse who has cast himself as a working-class candidate who hunts and fishes, is running in Wisconsin’s 1st District, which Trump won by about four points two years ago. Steil beat his Democratic opponent there by 10.

In a statement, DCCC Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said the three additional candidates “represent the very best of their communities — unbought, practical leaders who know what it takes to win in tough districts.”

“With less than 50 days until the election, voters are ready to send a clear message to House Republicans and elect new leaders that will fight for them,” DelBene added.

In a statement, Mike Marinella — a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee — dismissed the latest group of candidates, accusing the DCCC of “scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel with radical activist candidates who couldn’t win a student council race, let alone a seat in Congress.”

Chris Jansing contributed to this report.

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