Best House recruits so far for 2016

[Orser67]

It's still early, but who are some of the best House recruits for either party for the 2016 elections?

[136or142]

I don't know much about them or their candidacies, but based on what little I've read about them and based on their resumes, these would be the ones I think are the top Democratic recruits.

This is only for Republican held seats, not for Democrats running in Democratic open seats and certainly not for Democrats running against Democratic incumbents.

The Democrats now have candidates in 90 of the 247 Republican districts, though, to be fair, it could be argued that of the past  three Democrats to get into races where there were previously no challengers, they'd be better with nobody.

1.Arizona 2, Victoria Steele
2.Colorado 6, Morgan Carroll
3.Florida 10, Val Demings
4.Florida 13, Charlie Crist
5.Iowa 1, Monica Vernon
6.Michigan 7, Gretchen Driskell
7.New Hampshire 1, Shawn O'Connor (even if not to win, but to finally stop Carol Shea-Porter from running)
8.New Jersey 5, Josh Gottheimer
9.New York 2, DuWayne Gregory
10.Pennsylvania 8, Shaughnessy Naughton
11.Pennsylvania 6, Mike Parrish
12.New York 21, Mike Derrick
13.Utah 4, Doug Owens
14.South Dakota, Paula Hawks
15.Montana, James St Goddard
16.Arkansas 2, Dianne Curry (not 100% sure about her)

If anybody was wondering, these are the three Democrats I referenced above
1.Alaska, Lynette Moreno-Hinz, a taxi driver and frequent candidate.
2.Arkansas 3, Robbie Wilson, a tax preparer and 'progressive' (he might not be a bad candidate)
3.Wyoming, Richard Grayson, a writer and frequent candidate who lives in New York.

[Nyvin]

Maine's 2nd district has Joe Baldacci running,  he doesn't seem too bad of a candidate.    I don't know about best though.

[socaldem]

I don't know much about them or their candidacies, but based on what little I've read about them and based on their resumes, these would be the ones I think are the top Democratic recruits.

This is only for Republican held seats, not for Democrats running in Democratic open seats and certainly not for Democrats running against Democratic incumbents.

The Democrats now have candidates in 90 of the 247 Republican districts, though, to be fair, it could be argued that of the past  three Democrats to get into races where there were previously no challengers, they'd be better with nobody.

1.Arizona 2, Victoria Steele
2.Colorado 6, Morgan Carroll
3.Florida 10, Val Demings
4.Florida 13, Charlie Crist
5.Iowa 1, Monica Vernon
6.Michigan 7, Gretchen Driskell
7.New Hampshire 1, Shawn O'Connor (even if not to win, but to finally stop Carol Shea-Porter from running)
8.New Jersey 5, Josh Gottheimer
9.New York 2, DuWayne Gregory
10.Pennsylvania 8, Shaughnessy Naughton
11.Pennsylvania 6, Mike Parrish
12.New York 21, Mike Derrick
13.Utah 4, Doug Owens
14.South Dakota, Paula Hawks
15.Montana, James St Goddard
16.Arkansas 2, Dianne Curry (not 100% sure about her)

If anybody was wondering, these are the three Democrats I referenced above
1.Alaska, Lynette Moreno-Hinz, a taxi driver and frequent candidate.
2.Arkansas 3, Robbie Wilson, a tax preparer and 'progressive' (he might not be a bad candidate)
3.Wyoming, Richard Grayson, a writer and frequent candidate who lives in New York.

Open GOP Seats with potential to flip:

1. FL-13 ex-Gov. Charlie Crist
2. PA-08 Shaughnessy Naughton
3. MN-02 State Rep. Joe Atkins, Mary Lawrence, Angie Craig
3. MI-01
4. NV-03 Heather Murren
5. NY-19 ??

Open seat watch: MI-07 (Upton), OH-01 (Chabot), NJ-01 (LoBiondo), NJ-07 (Leonard Lance)

GOP incumbents with challengers (most of which you mentioned):

1. FL-10 Val Demmings
2. CO-06, State Sen. Morgan Carroll
3. NV-04 State Sen. Ruben Kihuen, ex State Rep. Lucy Flores
4. IA-01 Mayor Monica Vernon
5. IL-10 Mayor Nancy Rotering
6. ME-01 Joe Baldacci, Emily Cain
7. NH-01 CSP
8. FL-26 Annette Taddeo
9. IA-03 Jim Mowrer
10. NJ-05 Josh Gottheimer
11. AZ-02 State Rep. Victoria Steele
12. MI-07 State Rep. Gretchen Driskell
13. UT-04 Doug Owens
14. CA-10 Michael Eggman

Easy pickups with decent candidate: NY-24, CA-21, VA-04 (if modified by redistricting)

Winnable seats in need of very strong candidates: CA-21, IL-12, IL-13, OH-14, NJ-03, NY-01, VA-02, VA-10, WA-03, WA-08

So based on the above, unless there are a wave of additional open seats, I essentially see Dems picking up 8-10 seats and, perhaps, losing a couple of their open seats such as AZ-01, FL-02, and FL-18. Here's hoping that Gwen Graham tries to be daring and to win the modified FL-02 on her way to running statewide.

[Kingpoleon]

Anthony Brown and Charlie Crist are pretty great recruits. So is Joe Baldacci. If Pappas runs for the House instead of Governor, he would be super-strong.

In my district, we have a pretty strong candidate. Rob Wilson - I think he's a CPA.

[socaldem]

Damn it. Dems lost their NV-03 recruit.

Can someone from NV-04 drop down to NV-03, pleeeazzz?

[Mr. Illini]

5. IL-10 Mayor Nancy Rotering

Hardly a recruit and will not be nominated over recruit Schneider

[socaldem]

5. IL-10 Mayor Nancy Rotering

Hardly a recruit and will not be nominated over recruit Schneider

I'll take your word for it. Schneider seems so boring. I want another progressive woman from Illinois. :-(

[Mr. Illini]

5. IL-10 Mayor Nancy Rotering

Hardly a recruit and will not be nominated over recruit Schneider

I'll take your word for it. Schneider seems so boring. I want another progressive woman from Illinois. :-(

There's no word to take on if she was a recruit because she wasn't - Schneider is D-trip backed.

In terms of who is a better candidate, I don't really care about the gender. Schneider is in a superior position to take on Dold. Name rec is high. He is tested. He fundraises well. He'll be nominated and will go toe-to-toe with Dold again.

[muon2]

5. IL-10 Mayor Nancy Rotering

Hardly a recruit and will not be nominated over recruit Schneider

I'll take your word for it. Schneider seems so boring. I want another progressive woman from Illinois. :-(

There's no word to take on if she was a recruit because she wasn't - Schneider is D-trip backed.

In terms of who is a better candidate, I don't really care about the gender. Schneider is in a superior position to take on Dold. Name rec is high. He is tested. He fundraises well. He'll be nominated and will go toe-to-toe with Dold again.

It is interesting to note that Schneider lost two prominent IL-10 Dem endorsements due to his position against the Iran deal. Both former congressman Abner Mikva and former US senator Adlai Stevenson III switched last month to Rotering since she took Obama's position on the deal.

[henster]

If the recruit can't raise money then their not really that good. Victoria Steele raised $55K last quarter compared to McSally's 500K. I think it's important to look at fundraising hauls when looking at candidates.

[VPH]

Well, although it's a hell of an uphill battle in KS-4 (PVI: R+14), the Democrats have a very strong candidate in attorney Dan Giroux. Well versed and spoken, good at fundraising, high name recognition in the district, great experience, etc. Last time we had such a strong candidate was Raj Goyle, who lost in part because of coded racism used by Pompeo, in part because if was 2010, and in part because he was (unfairly) painted as a carpetbagger.