Levi Sanders, the son of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was defeated Tuesday night in a New Hampshire congressional primary, coming in seventh place out of eleven candidates, The Daily Beast reported Wednesday.
Chris Pappas, an openly gay member of the New Hampshire Executive Council, won the primary.
Sanders had been seen as a major underdog in the race and had run without the explicit endorsement of his father, who said, although he is proud of his son, the family does not believe in dynastic politics and he would run his own campaign in his own way.
Levi Sanders was vying for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District, a seat being vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, according to Politico.
He criticized the Democratic Party during the campaign for ignoring the needs of working class voters, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
It is very much a swing district, and in the past six elections, the House seat has changed party hands five times. On the presidential level, the district was won twice by former Barack Obama, by a slight margin in 2012, and then narrowly won by Donald Trump in 2016.
University of New Hampshire political science Prof. Dane Scala told ABC News: "Levi Sanders' campaign did not succeed because he raised little money, does not live in the district, and often complained about how the New Hampshire Democratic Party treated him."
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