{"id":375,"date":"2026-06-11T17:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375"},"modified":"2026-06-11T17:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T17:18:07","slug":"house-republicans-keep-losing-outside-of-washington-they-blame-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375","title":{"rendered":"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Republican House members seeking higher office are having a rough year. They are finding out that experience in Congress isn\u2019t necessarily a benefit back home.<\/p>\n

Read more Senators Propose Tying Trump\u2019s Hands On Troops in Europe<\/a><\/p>\n

In just the last few weeks, Rep. Dusty Johnson didn\u2019t make the runoff to be South Dakota\u2019s GOP nominee for governor, Rep. Randy Feenstra lost his bid to be Iowa\u2019s GOP nominee for governor and Reps. Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace both didn\u2019t make a runoff Tuesday night to win the GOP nomination to compete to be South Carolina\u2019s next governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is there\u2019s a reason House members are losing with a greater frequency than people expect,\u201d Johnson told NOTUS. \u201cAnd that\u2019s because the service in the House is not a particularly big asset right now.\u201d In the end, Johnson only got 23.4% of the vote.<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson told NOTUS that House members have to take a litany of tough votes that expose themselves to attack ads from fellow Republicans if they decide to run for higher office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was just a deluge of negative advertising around the whole RINO [Republican In Name Only] and career politician attack,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThat\u2019s a really potent argument to make with the base and so we didn\u2019t do enough to inoculate ourselves against those D.C. related issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said this is especially true in the age of social media, when there are \u201cfar right and far left influencers who will make literally every vote sound like it\u2019s an act of pure evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are really, really complicated issues, and I just don\u2019t know that the normals are doing as good a job of messaging that nuance as maybe the extremist influencers,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n

The string of defeats is even more notable considering some of the advantages the Republican lawmakers had when they entered their prospective races \u2014 high name recognition and a list of projects they championed for their districts from their time in Congress.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just candidates missing the mark in gubernatorial races. There\u2019s a broader pattern of House members striking out in other statewide bids this cycle, including when Rep. Chip Roy lost his runoff for Texas attorney general last month, when Rep. Wesley Hunt finished third in Texas\u2019 Senate primary in March, and when Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter failed to qualify for his state\u2019s Senate runoff.<\/p>\n

All of these members gave up safe seats to run for statewide office, a bet they were hoping would take them to the next level in their political careers.<\/p>\n

Read more Pentagon on Lockdown After Systems Detect \u2018Air Quality Issue\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

But not every House incumbent attempting to land another post had the same experience. While Johnson was seen as the clear frontrunner for his race in South Dakota, polling before the primary showed him trailing behind political newcomer Toby Doeden and Gov. Larry Rhoden, who will face each other in a July 28 runoff.<\/p>\n

Feenstra, a conservative lawmaker who backed his leadership, received an endorsement from President Donald Trump a week before Election Day, but in the end it wasn\u2019t enough to pull him ahead of Zach Lahn, a political outsider who ran on a \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d platform.<\/p>\n

When asked by NOTUS Thursday on Capitol Hill what happened, Feenstra made clear he wasn\u2019t interested in rehashing his campaign.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Norman and Mace, who both were known to consistently wreak havoc with House Republican leadership\u2019s agenda, and were not initial supporters of Trump, were unable to pull through enough votes to make it to a runoff in their home state.<\/u><\/span> The president endorsed Pamela Evette, who will face off against Alan Wilson in the runoff.<\/p>\n

Mace, more notably, fought against Trump, pushing to release the Epstein files. She became one of a small group of Republicans who joined all Democrats to vote to compel the Department of Justice to release the files, against the Trump administration\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeaded back to the private sector at the end of this term, as the Founders intended,\u201d Mace posted on X on Wednesday.<\/u><\/span> \u201cWhen I ran in 2020 I said I\u2019d only serve 3 terms and my time is up. It\u2019s truly been an immense honor and I wouldn\u2019t trade it for anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither voted in the House the days leading up to their primary, and both missed votes after failing to make the runoff.<\/p>\n

The common thread in all these losing campaigns is the antiestablishment preference from Republican primary voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers of Congress are so easy to paint as these D.C. swamp career politicians, especially on the Republican side because our base already hates that,\u201d said one senior Republican strategist who was granted anonymity to speak freely.<\/p>\n

Read more House Fails to Pass Short-Term FISA Extension as Pulte Fight Drags On<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A significant number of House members have been running for statewide office instead of reelection. A lot of them are losing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campaigns"],"yoast_head":"\nHouse Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington. - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington. - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A significant number of House members have been running for statewide office instead of reelection. A lot of them are losing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T17:18:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T17:18:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375\"},\"wordCount\":823,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Campaigns\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375\",\"name\":\"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington. - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T17:18:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - MAY 13: Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.Dak., arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Bill Clark\\\/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=375#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Modern Home Journals\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington. - Modern Home Journals","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington. - Modern Home Journals","og_description":"A significant number of House members have been running for statewide office instead of reelection. A lot of them are losing.","og_url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375","og_site_name":"Modern Home Journals","article_published_time":"2026-06-11T17:18:07+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#\/schema\/person\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0"},"headline":"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington.","datePublished":"2026-06-11T17:18:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375"},"wordCount":823,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Campaigns"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375","url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375","name":"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington. - Modern Home Journals","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-11T17:18:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#\/schema\/person\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fb8848c06297498457fea7127fdd40c2-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"UNITED STATES - MAY 13: Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.Dak., arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington on Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (Bill Clark\/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=375#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"House Republicans Keep Losing Outside of Washington. They Blame Washington."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/","name":"Modern Home Journals","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/#\/schema\/person\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/modernhomejournals.com"],"url":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}