The DNC, Democratic party leadership, and various other organizations have long defended and supported noxious candidates in the name of incumbency.
Dan Lipinski immediately comes to mind. He voted against the ACA (and many other Democratic initiatives) but was still embraced by Pelosi and leadership. Current House member Henry Cuellar is pro-forced birth, pro-oil, and pro-gun. As an incumbent, many in the party overlooked those facts because he was an incumbent. Late last year he spoke to a class at American University. Cuellar said he spoke to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the DNC, and urged them to allow AIPAC to spend against incumbent members of The Squad in primaries and for the DNC and leadership to remain neutral. In other words, to not support incumbents in a primary even though he himself asked for and was provided such help. So far, it looks line the DNC and party brass, including Hakeem Jeffries and his Team Blue PAC (co-founded by Rep. Josh Gottheimer speaking of noxious) are listening. This cycle it looks like if you’re a Squad member, incumbency means squat. Especially if you expressed any sympathy for the people of Gaza.
Any incumbent that dared to cross AIPAC is in for a primary challenge from the right by an AIPAC-funded candidate, and the DNC and leadership won’t move a finger to do anything lest they upset AIPAC, who happen to be big donors to quite a few Democrats...and Republicans. In fact the 5 biggest recipients in Congress of AIPAC money over the years are Bob Menendez, Ritchie Torres, and Hakeem Jeffries, followed closely by Roger Wicker and Ted Cruz. Great company to keep.
George Latimer, an AIPAC backed candidate challenging Incumbent Democrat Jamaal Bowman, claimed that Bowman is taking money from Hamas. The response from the DNC and leadership? Crickets. Wesley Bell, another AIPAC funded moderate, is running against Incumbent Democrat Cori Bush. Bell says that the district wants a centrist and a bridge builder, even though the district is D+27 according to the PVI. Really? I know on the Republican side there is an enormous push to put centrists in seats that are R+27...and again, what has leadership and the DNC said about this race and protecting an incumbent? Zip. Nada.
For all the talking they did about protecting incumbents, it was never really about incumbency. Evidently Incumbents are only worth protecting when they are the right kind of incumbents.