Good move by Ken Mitchell, the 2024 Democratic Party congressional nominee in the Sixth District, who announced on Wednesday that he is dropping out of the 2026 race, clearing the way for Beth Macy to focus on November.
“The momentum of our current political moment means that we have an opportunity to defeat Ben Cline with dedicated organizing and a unified Democratic base. A drawn-out primary while Cline sits back and stocks his war chest will handicap that momentum and the chance to bring real change to the Sixth District. This is why I’ve decided to end my campaign,” Mitchell said in a statement.
Mitchell received 34.8 percent of the vote in the 2024 race, which doesn’t sound like much, but at least his candidacy meant Cline didn’t have a free pass.
It’s hard enough to run a campaign for office; and harder still when you’re doing so knowing you’re not going to win, but having to wake up every day ignoring that and pushing forward.
Credit to Ken Mitchell for keeping us in the game at a tough time.
The 2026 cycle should be a bit more favorable, with the disaster that has been the first year and a half of Trump 2.0 as the tailwind for Democrats in general.
In particular in the Sixth, there is the increasing recognition that Ben Cline is nothing but a Trump rubberstamp.
Per Heritage Action, the research arm of the Heritage Foundation, the author of Project 2025, Cline has voted with the Heritage Foundation on 100 percent of congressional votes in the 2025-2026 term.
The average Republican member scores 84 percent on that scale.
It would be bragging if Trump had even one or two things to hang the ol’ hat on.
Being 100 percent with Trump with the U.S. at war in Iran, gas prices nearing $5 a gallon, hospitals slashing services, the Trump regime announcing a billion-dollar slush fund for the J6 army, you know.
Reality check: yes, the Sixth, as drawn by the MAGA justices on the state Supreme Court in 2022, is still a major uphill battle for the Ds.
“I first decided to run for Congress because it was clear to me that communities across the Allegheny Highlands and Shenandoah and Roanoke valleys were being left behind by federal policies,” Mitchell said. “From voting to close rural health clinics and slash healthcare for his constituents to standing idly by as Donald Trump imported cheap beef from Argentina, threatening the livelihoods of our farmers, Ben Cline has shown no interest in securing a better future for Sixth District residents.”
Mitchell steps aside feeling optimistic for the chance for Democrats to have success in the Sixth in the 2026 cycle.
“The relationships, issues, communities, and people who defined this campaign will continue to motivate me, and I will do everything possible to continue to support and advocate for them,” Mitchell said.
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Chris Graham
