The Intercept
IT’S HARD TO imagine things going much worse for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in 2019. As he preps for the election he has long hoped will make him the majority leader, his prized recruits across the country have spurned him. In Texas, Colorado, and Montana, his top choices have (so far) turned down Senate runs in exchange for presidential bids. In Georgia, Stacey Abrams eluded him, her eye still on the governor’s mansion (or possibly the vice presidency). In North Carolina, the popular Democratic attorney general took a pass. In Iowa, Schumer tried to coax former Gov. Tom Vilsack into the race, but that fell through. In Kentucky, Schumer successfully recruited failed House candidate Amy McGrath into the race, and she immediately imploded.
In Maine, Sara Gideon, the statehouse speaker, is running against Susan Collins, but Ady Barkan, the activist who raised some $4 million in pledges for whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, deserves as much credit for that as Schumer.