2018 Congressional Recruitment/Fundraising/Ratings Megathread

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Stanton would be a much stronger candidate than Synema or Kirkpatrick IMO.

Frankly agreed. I'm not convinced Sinema is electable statewide just yet, and I'd rather like to keep her as my Representative besides.

Why not? She's a Blue Dog moderate who could reassure suburbanite voters in Maricopa County who are skeptical of Democrats when the Republican isn't Trump.

She has a ton of baggage

Every candidate either has baggage or is an absolute non-entity, that's what I say.

I mean, you can say that, but you're wrong.  Sinema has too much baggage to win statewide.  Stanton is easily our best candidate.

[Cactus Jack]

Stanton would be a much stronger candidate than Synema or Kirkpatrick IMO.

Frankly agreed. I'm not convinced Sinema is electable statewide just yet, and I'd rather like to keep her as my Representative besides.

Why not? She's a Blue Dog moderate who could reassure suburbanite voters in Maricopa County who are skeptical of Democrats when the Republican isn't Trump.

A sad truth is I doubt those voters would be keen on voting for a bisexual atheist, Blue Dog or no. Arizona isn't a firebreathing Bible Belt state, but we still have our share of...shall we say, traditionalists. Neither thing should matter a bit, but I suspect that it would.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Stanton would be a much stronger candidate than Synema or Kirkpatrick IMO.

Frankly agreed. I'm not convinced Sinema is electable statewide just yet, and I'd rather like to keep her as my Representative besides.

Why not? She's a Blue Dog moderate who could reassure suburbanite voters in Maricopa County who are skeptical of Democrats when the Republican isn't Trump.

A sad truth is I doubt those voters would be keen on voting for a bisexual atheist, Blue Dog or no. Arizona isn't a firebreathing Bible Belt state, but we still have our share of...shall we say, traditionalists.

There's also some stuff from her days in the Green Party working for the Nader campaign and marketing herself as a liberal firebrand.

[Cactus Jack]

Stanton would be a much stronger candidate than Synema or Kirkpatrick IMO.

Frankly agreed. I'm not convinced Sinema is electable statewide just yet, and I'd rather like to keep her as my Representative besides.

Why not? She's a Blue Dog moderate who could reassure suburbanite voters in Maricopa County who are skeptical of Democrats when the Republican isn't Trump.

A sad truth is I doubt those voters would be keen on voting for a bisexual atheist, Blue Dog or no. Arizona isn't a firebreathing Bible Belt state, but we still have our share of...shall we say, traditionalists.

There's also some stuff from her days in the Green Party working for the Nader campaign and marketing herself as a liberal firebrand.

Also those things. I mean, of course, her record should speak louder than her past and should matter more than her sexuality or religion, but there are too many ways to put a negative spin on her.

As it stands, she's a safe incumbent in a district that could theoretically be competitive without her. I would prefer to keep her where she is and run Stanton, whose mayoral seat is both inconsequential to the House majority and completely impossible for the Republicans to pick up.

[Coraxion]

I wasn't really aware of those things other the bisexual thing. Now I'm convinced.

[publicunofficial]

Honestly I like the Nader-voting, "prada socialist" radical queer Sinema over Blue Dog Congresswoman Sinema.

[Hindsight was 2020]

I do wonder will the dems recruiting of verterns help like it did in 2006?

[JGibson]

#IL12: It's official: Brendan Kelly (D) will run against Mike Bost (R) in 2018.

Gregg Palermo at Fox2now:

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[Hindsight was 2020]

#IL12: It's official: Brendan Kelly (D) will run against Mike Bost (R) in 2018.

Gregg Palermo at Fox2now:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Yeah

[Cactus Jack]

Honestly I like the Nader-voting, "prada socialist" radical queer Sinema over Blue Dog Congresswoman Sinema.

Frankly, so do I. Hopefully her district moves far enough to the left under the Trump clowncar that she can actually start voting like that.

[Heisenberg]

Honestly I like the Nader-voting, "prada socialist" radical queer Sinema over Blue Dog Congresswoman Sinema.

Frankly, so do I. Hopefully her district moves far enough to the left under the Trump clowncar that she can actually start voting like that.

Trump tanked compared to Romney, and McCain did pretty well there in 2008, so all that made its PVI dart from R+1 to D+4.

[smoltchanov]

Honestly I like the Nader-voting, "prada socialist" radical queer Sinema over Blue Dog Congresswoman Sinema.

You - sure. But how about Arizona voters?

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

Jan McDowell is looking for a rematch against Kenny Marchant in Texas 24th, which is a neighboring district to mine. Filed it on 3/1/2017, and has done such a bad job with publicity since she has like no funding, that I just found out about it today. It's in an R+9 district in suburban DFW, with a popular and well known and entrenched incumbent. Marchant won 56-39 in 2016. And Drumpft won it 51-45.

Nothing to see here folks...

[smoltchanov]

Jan McDowell is looking for a rematch against Kenny Marchant in Texas 24th, which is a neighboring district to mine. Filed it on 3/1/2017, and has done such a bad job with publicity since she has like no funding, that I just found out about it today. It's in an R+9 district in suburban DFW, with a popular and well known and entrenched incumbent. Marchant won 56-39 in 2016. And Drumpft won it 51-45.

Nothing to see here folks...

Absolutely. There are better (for Democrats) districts even in Texas. Of course - if they will not run "bold progressives" (aka "left wing tea party") in every possible districts.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

#IL12: It's official: Brendan Kelly (D) will run against Mike Bost (R) in 2018.

Gregg Palermo at Fox2now:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Glorious news!

[windjammer]

#IL12: It's official: Brendan Kelly (D) will run against Mike Bost (R) in 2018.

Gregg Palermo at Fox2now:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Glorious news!

Does he have seriously a chance?

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

#IL12: It's official: Brendan Kelly (D) will run against Mike Bost (R) in 2018.

Gregg Palermo at Fox2now:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Glorious news!

Does he have seriously a chance?

Depends how strong a campaign he runs and how good 2018 is for the Democrats.  He seems like a top-tier recruit though and it is absolutely critical that the Democrats get strong recruits in as many potentially competitive districts as possible.  The only way we'll take the house is if we compete not only in districts that are obviously going to be competitive (ex: VA-10), but also in districts like OH-1, IL-12, CO-3, WV-3, AR-2, OH-16, MI-1, KY-6, VA-2, NJ-11, WI-7, etc that could potentially become highly competitive with the right candidate even if they'll start off as lean Republican.  In other words, put as many seats on the table as possible with A-list wave insurance candidates so that we'll be well-positioned to take full advantage if a large wave hits in late September/early October of 2018 (that's usually when lean/likely seats usually start becoming highly competitive left and right in wave years).  Some won't pan out, but many more will if 2018 truly turns out to be a Democratic wave.

[Kamala]

So, Sam Johnson, a 13-term incumbent from TX-03, is retiring.

The Democrats have fielded a candidate with the exact same name.

https://www.votesamjohnson.com

Of course, he has to make it through the primary, but if he does...

[McGovernForPrez]

So, Sam Johnson, a 13-term incumbent from TX-03, is retiring.

The Democrats have fielded a candidate with the exact same name.

https://www.votesamjohnson.com

Of course, he has to make it through the primary, but if he does...

I would die if he actually won like that.

[publicunofficial]

TX-31: Dems have recruited decorated Air Force veteran MJ Hegar for this Safe R seat.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

TX-31: Dems have recruited decorated Air Force veteran MJ Hegar for this Safe R seat.

Very good choice. She seems like a very solid candidate, I think there is even a decent chance that she holds the R to single digits.

[Hindsight was 2020]

TX-31: Dems have recruited decorated Air Force veteran MJ Hegar for this Safe R seat.

Very good choice. She seems like a very solid candidate, I think there is even a decent chance that she holds the R to single digits.

An honestly that is big like "iron mustache" running aganist Paul it's not about winning but having to sweat in seats like this forces to GOP to move resources from seats that need it more

[publicunofficial]

TX-31: Dems have recruited decorated Air Force veteran MJ Hegar for this Safe R seat.

Very good choice. She seems like a very solid candidate, I think there is even a decent chance that she holds the R to single digits.

Also good insurance in case the map gets redrawn and TX-31 ends up as a competitive Austin-based seat.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Hey so funny story but I just found out that the finically director for Chrissy Houlahan who is running in PA-06 aganist Costello is somone I went to college with.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Also story missed from July 3rd Daylin Leach is in for PA-07 https://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/news/2017/07/06/daylin-leach-congressman-pat-meehan-election.html