More than 10 years ago, as a teenager, Justin Pearson interned for Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat representing his hometown of Memphis. Now, Pearson, a member of the Tennessee state house, is running to unseat Cohen, and he's outraising the 10-term incumbent more than two times over.
"We need someone who has new ideas, new energy and a new perspective to be an advocate for our community," said Pearson, 31, who is looking to defeat Cohen, 76, in the state's 9th congressional district. "I'm not running against a person, I'm running against the problem, and the problem is the status quo."
Pearson is part of a growing wave of younger candidates who are challenging older members of Congress — especially House Democrats — who have resisted calls to pass the torch to a new generation. And while a record-setting number of lawmakers have signaled plans to leave Congress after this year — including longtime leaders like Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — Cohen is not one of them.
Cohen's campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
This year, more than 80 Gen Z and millennial candidates are challenging or running to succeed House Democrats 65 and older, according to a report by Democratic fundraising platform Oath, first obtained by NPR. It's a massive jump from the previous cycle, when Oath found just 24 Democratic candidates under 50 were challenging older incumbents.
Defeating a longtime incumbent – especially as a younger first-time candidate – is extremely rare in politics. Incumbents typically sail through the primary season and almost always win reelection, and their challengers have struggled to raise money or attention in their push.
But as candidates look toward this year's midterm elections, those longtime dynamics have shown some cracks. An NPR analysis of campaign finance data finds that in 12 reliably Democratic districts held by older incumbents, young challengers are breaking through. In some cases, they are outraising incumbents altogether. In others, they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over a short period, relying almost exclusively on individual contributors, a notable sign of a competitive bid.
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As a fight wages on among top Democrats over what generational change in the party should look like, these early fundraising hauls suggest some Democratic primary voters may be ready for a change.
"The message is clearly that part of the gig is knowing when to leave," said Brian Derrick, co-founder and CEO of Oath. "The challenges that they were maybe originally elected to face are not necessarily the challenges that people now are focused on, or want their members of Congress to be able to address with not just proficiency, but on an expert level with excellence."
Oath provides Democratic donors with information on state and federal candidates to support, based on the donor's policy priorities or values. Through that process, Derrick says he's noticed a growing interest within the Democratic base in electing new voices to Congress.
"Just in the top tier of the most competitive of these primaries, where we think the incumbent is most in danger, we have over $10 million being directed to these candidates, where last cycle there was no viable Democratic challenger at all," he said, referring to Oath's report highlighting a handful of notable matchups, including Pearson's bid against Cohen.
"So it's not just that someone's doing 20% better or 50% better than they were … in the last term," he added. "It's that there was no one and now there is an extremely viable, if not favorite, candidate to unseat many of these long-term incumbents."
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Tennessee's primary is still months away, set for August, but the $732,000 Pearson raised from mid-October through the end of 2025 is more money than the combined last 16 years of Cohen's primary challengers have raised.
Cohen has roughly $306,000 in receipts over the entirety of 2025, according to Federal Election Commission data, but is also sitting on a sizable war chest of more than $1.8 million, and unlike Pearson, has accepted tens of thousands in corporate PAC donations.
"The reality is, people who have supported [Cohen] for years have come up to me and said, 'It's time,'" said Pearson. "We know this is going to be difficult, but this is not impossible."
Beyond strong fundraising numbers, Pearson and other challengers like him share commonalities in their campaigns, from a refusal to accept money from corporate PACs and pro-Israel lobbying groups to ambitious policy proposals on issues like affordability.
Those are top values for 28-year-old Melat Kiros as she challenges Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado's 1st congressional district. DeGette, 68, has served in the House since 1997, the same year that Kiros was born.
"Democrats lost the last election, I think, because we lost trust [from] the voters to actually get things done," Kiros said.
The first-time candidate has criticized DeGette's history of accepting campaign donations from defense contractors as well as energy and pharmaceutical companies – entities she argues are "responsible" for driving up costs for everyday Americans.
"This is where it's so important to follow the money and to see that 'do nothing Democrats' aren't doing nothing for no reason," Kiros said. "A lot of this has to do with where the money is coming from and where their allegiance really is, and ultimately, I think that's with their donors and not their voters."
DeGette's campaign disputes her opponent's characterization, saying in a statement that the congresswoman has "long championed public financing for elections," and has a progressive record on issues like healthcare and climate policy.
"Any suggestion that Diana's progressive record is compromised by a particular donation is false and a misguided attempt to distract voters from the serious issues at stake in this election," said campaign spokesperson Jennie Peek-Dunstone.
DeGette leads in fundraising by more than half a million dollars, but Kiros only slightly trails in contributions from individuals, with $200,000 to DeGette's $252,000 as of the end of 2025.
Age and money battles rattle the Democratic Party
Traditionally, the Democratic Party doesn't weigh in on primaries. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is investing in races that could flip the House, targeting vulnerable Republican seats.
However, after Democrats lost support among many key voting blocs in 2024, including young Americans, some in the party believe that engaging in competitive primaries and electing new Democrats can help show disaffected voters that the party is evolving.
"We need to change who we are as a party and offer the American people something new," said David Hogg, the founder of Leaders We Deserve, a PAC that supports younger Democrats running for state and federal office. "We can do that and win back the House at the same time."
Leaders We Deserve is backing a crop of younger congressional challengers, including Pearson in Memphis. Hogg says the group's focus is on building up a segment of the party "that are not younger versions of the people currently in power, but that truly represent a new generation and a new part of the Democratic Party."
Fundraising does not always guarantee success
But lots of cash is just one factor at play, and does not necessarily mean victory for the incumbent or the challenger.
That was the case this week in North Carolina, where 69-year-old Rep. Valerie Foushee narrowly staved off a challenge from 32-year-old Nida Allam despite being outraised by the Durham County Commissioner. Allam conceded the race in a statement on social media on Wednesday.
In an interview with NPR last month, Allam had characterized the matchup as setting "the tone for the 2026 cycle of how progressives and challenger candidates are going to fare."
That includes campaign fundraising tactics – like accepting donations from corporate PACs or the influence of outside spending on the race.
In 2022, when Allam and Foushee first faced off in a crowded open primary, the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC and groups tied to tech and crypto companies spent millions to support Foushee's campaign. Allam rejected any support from those groups.
That race became the most expensive primary in the state's history, with more than $3.8 million in outside spending.
Four years later, Foushee has chosen not to take money from AIPAC, though Allam's campaign has criticized the congresswoman for still accepting donations from corporate PACs.
According to the final campaign finance reports before the primary submitted last month, Allam raised just over $583,000 to Foushee's $555,000, despite only launching her campaign on Dec. 11.
But outside groups still played an outsized role. Federal Election Commission records show more than $4.4 million in outside spending on the race as of Tuesday, with roughly $2.4 million going to support Foushee. Campaign finance records show $1.8 million went to support Allam, spurring pushback from Foushee.
"My opponent claims to be against oligarchs, yet receives the majority of her funding from out-of-state donors, Super PACs, and PACs funded by billionaires and millionaires," she said in a statement.
While Allam fell short in her effort to unseat Foushee, her electoral performance and fundraising success — particularly with individual donors — may signal momentum for other young progressives with elections later this year.
"We are showing that a progressive grassroots campaign can build the momentum," Allam said in an interview before the election. "Folks are sick and tired of the status quo, especially in our safe blue seats."
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