Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) on Friday dropped her bid to become the fourth-ranking Democrat next year and instead entered the contest to lead the party’s campaign arm.
The move comes two days after Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.), the current head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), jumped into the race for the No. 4 assistant leader spot, challenging Bustos and Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who had both announced their candidacies weeks before the midterms.
{mosads}Bustos’s decision reflects the growing sentiment among Democrats that Lujan is the favorite in that contest, after leading the party to a House majority in Tuesday’s elections.
Lujan got an additional boost on Friday when the 30-member Congressional Hispanic Caucus, of which he is a part, endorsed his bid.
In a letter to Democrats Friday, Bustos praised Lujan for working “relentlessly to deliver the majority,” concluding that he’s earned the assistant leader position.
“I am withdrawing from that race because I believe Chairman Luján deserves a higher-level seat at the leadership table,” Bustos wrote.
The shift pits Bustos against two other Democrats for the DCCC chairmanship seat: Reps. Denny Heck and Suzan DelBene, both from Washington State, had announced their entrance into the race earlier in the week.
Bustos is currently one of three leaders of the Democrats’ messaging arm, having been elected to that spot following the 2016 elections, along with Cicilline and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
Bustos, 57, represents a rural district of Illinois that was carried by President Trump two years ago, and she’s been a leading proponent of the notion that Democrats need more heartland voices in the leadership ranks if they’re to widen their appeal with voters in the Rust Belt states carried by Trump.
She’s touting her success maintaining a tough district, as well as her fundraising and campaigning this cycle, particularly in support of other Midwestern Democrats.
“As the only Midwesterner at the elected leadership table, I believe it’s important our caucus reflects the full diversity of our party,” she wrote to her Democratic colleagues. “This is not something new to me.”
Updated at 6:47 p.m.