On Election Night, Watch These Eight Tigers Running for Office

Rep. Ken Buck ’81 (R)

Buck, a four-term incumbent, is squaring off against Democratic nominee Ike McCorkle in Colorado’s 4th District. McCorkle, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, has emphasized his background as both a veteran and environmentalist, and has run largely on those issues.

Buck, first elected in November 2014, has been the subject of some controversy in the University community in recent months, as The Daily Princetonian published an op-ed by a senior student, arguing that the Pace Center’s Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS) should no longer include a position in Buck’s office because of his views on abortion, gun control, and other issues. Buck responded with his own piece, titled “Princeton students deserve better than cancel culture.”

Andrea Campbell ’04 (D)

Battling Republican nominee Jay McMahon for Massachusetts attorney general, Campbell seeks to reenter Massachusetts politics following her loss to Michelle Wu in the 2021 Boston mayoral election. Campbell, seen as the favorite in her deep-blue state, emerged as the Democratic candidate following a brutal primary fight with Quentin Palfrey and Shannon Liss-Riordan this summer, and has campaigned on defending civil rights, expanding reproductive rights, and promoting equity across broad legal cross-sections.

Rep. Mike Gallagher ’06 (R)

Gallagher will run largely unopposed in his bid for a fourth term in Wisconsin’s 8th congressional district, with only libertarian nominee Jacob VandenPlas and a handful of independents standing in his way. Gallagher, who served seven years on active duty in the Marine Corps following his graduation from Princeton, will, in all likelihood, have established an exceedingly firm grip on a seat that was hotly contested as recently as 2010. He has largely run on foreign policy, cybersecurity, and shaking up Washington.

Rep. Derek Kilmer ’96 (D)

Kilmer is looking for his sixth term in Congress representing Washington state’s 6th District, having held the seat each cycle since being initially elected in 2012. Kilmer is expected to win in November; he’s never dipped below 59 percent of the general vote in previous elections. 

He looks to continue his tenure on the House Appropriations committee where he focuses especially on environmental, water, and natural resources issues, an interest that dates back to the School of Public and International Affairs, where his thesis was titled, “Recovering From the Addiction: The Social and Economic Impacts of the Pacific Northwest Timber Crisis; An Analysis of the Implementation of the Clinton Forest Plan on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi ’95 (D)

Krishnamoorthi faces Republican Chris Dargas in the 8th District in Illinois, following an easy primary victory in late June. Seeking his fourth term, Krishnamoorthi has emphasized education, national security, and green economic development on the trail and during his tenure in Congress, and currently serves on the House Oversight Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence.

Gov. Jared Polis ’96 (D)

Polis is running for reelection in Colorado following his landmark double-digit win four years ago, when he became the first openly gay governor in American history. Polis faces businesswoman Heidi Ganahl, a member of the University of Colorado Board of Regents, and has run emphasizing his stewardship of the state through some tough and unexpected challenges, including wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. A relatively popular governor, he holds a sizable polling lead heading into the last few weeks.

Rep. John Sarbanes ’84 (D)

Sarbanes, the senior member (or “dean,” as they say in Washington, D.C.) of Princeton’s congressional delegation, seeks to win his ninth term over Republican challenger Yuripzy Morgan. Sarbanes, son of the late Paul Sarbanes ’54, a U.S. senator from Maryland, should have no trouble defending his seat in November, as he has won by an average of nearly 30 points in his prior general election contests. 

Rep. Terri Sewell ’86 (D)

Sewell, the only Democrat in Alabama’s congressional delegation, looks to extend her stay in Washington to a seventh term. Sewell is likely to dominate Republican challenger Beatrice Nichols in her heavily blue district, having won unopposed in the prior four cycles. Once called the “Kevin Bacon of Congress” in a Roll Call profile, Sewell, a long-time confidante of both former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama ’85, whom she met at Princeton, has quietly become one of the more influential Democratic members, and a leading blue voice in the South.