Historical context: Other examples of young buzzworthy upstarts losing a high profile campaign
Basically, I'm looking for other historical examples of a fresh-faced "new blood" type candidate in a campaign that has garnered national attention beyond the state where they are running. (I'm thinking an election for Governor or Senator, but perhaps a Congressional seat might work as well). The candidate runs a buzzworthy campaign against an old guard opponent, and captivates a lot of attention and excitement, but ultimately comes up just short on election day. However, the exposure and residual excitement from that race holds the potential to carry over to future election years.
The reason I'm asking is because there's been a lot of talk about "what's next" for people like Beto O'Rourke or Andrew Gillum, both of whom distinctly feel into that type of category. Some people insist they are presidential material for 2020; while I disagree with that assessment, I still would like to see what sort of future they might still have ahead of them.
I suppose you can make the argument for Lincoln's failed campaign against Stephen Douglas, but I was wondering if there are other, more recent examples.
I know a 27 year old Bill Clinton challenged an incumbent Congressman in Arkansas in 1974 and nearly won, and was elected Arkansas AG two years later and then Governor two years after that, but I'm not sure how much coverage that race got outside of Arkansas.
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