It’s been a while since we discussed local races, so here’s a thread for that. Usually at this time of the year, we have a few good primary challenges, a lot of fundraising, and hopefully somebody says something dumb enough that it will make a good campaign commercial later this Fall.
Here’s my report: In Western New York, Kathy Hochul, the Democrat who won the special election after transgender-curious Chris Lee resigned, got some good news this week. Republican Chris Collins’ primary challenger, Tea Partier and Iraq war hero David Bellavia, is going to be backed by a SuperPAC financed by Jack Davis. Davis is an anti-immigration zealot with deep pockets who’s run as a Republican and a Democrat to get Hochul’s seat in the new NY-27. That’s good news for Hochul since Collins will get beaten up in the Republican primary by a well-financed challenger, and because Bellavia might get the nod from one of the minor parties and split the vote in the general.
Other than that, all New York Democrats got a little help from Bob Turner, the guy who won the special election for Anthony Weiner’s old seat. Turner voted for the Ryan budget a few months after he made a campaign promise not to vote for it. Whenever a moderate Republican like Collins or his doppelganger in Rochester’s NY-25 race, Maggie Brooks, promises to vote against their party, Turner’s vote will come back to haunt them.
What’s happening near where you live? I’m still looking for good local blogs, so post those, too.
beltane
The constituents in Bob Turner’s district are going to have to think long and hard about what is most important to them: Medicare or Bibi Netanyanhu’s feelings. I bet Medicare wins.
PurpleGirl
@beltane: That district is no more. As expected, it was lost in the redistricting. The “new” 6th will have a primary with 4 or 5 Democrats vying for the seat and a couple of Republicans. Turner is going to run for the Gillibrand Senate seat and force a Republican primary for that.
beltane
@PurpleGirl: Wonderful! I hope Turner enjoys every moment of Kristin Gillibrand mopping the floor with him.
dmsilev
Well, around here professional dipshit Joe Walsh said of his opponent Tammy Duckworth:
(Link. Warning: Politico.
The sad thing is that this actually a step *up* for Joe Walsh, since the last time he was in the news, it was about the $100K of unpaid child support money he owes his ex-wife.
Mike in NC
One of the assholes running in the GOP primary for our US Congress district has a TV ad decrying the lousy economy and high unemployment, etc. (Hey, who was it that caused all that anyway, we wonder?) The best part is he closes it with an old photo of him proudly standing next to Jesse Fucking Helms!
Msskwesq
In Iowa, the worst Congressmen ever, Steven King is being challenged by Christy Vilsack. She is the wife of former governor and now Ag Secretary Vilsack. She is a nice, smart women but it will be a really uphill battle as she is a Democrat in a conservative district and she just moved into the district. She really could use money, so if anyone can afford to help her campaign, as we ALL want to see that jackass racist, homophobe, sexist moron King get the boot out of Congress!
Donut
@dmsilev:
At least your race. (assuming you’re in Walsh’s district) has some flavor. Up over here by the lake, it’s a snoozer waiting for Jan Schakowsky to cruise. I’ll take it, though. Love her to death and her being in a safe district means she is able to help out a lot of women and other progs.
http://www.janschakowsky.org/blog/2012-primary-endorsements
dmsilev
@Donut: I’m not in Walsh’s district, thankfully. I live in Hyde Park; I used to be in Bobby Rush’s district, but a combination of a move and the redistricting means that Jesse Jackson Jr. is now my Rep. All the action around here is in the primary.
belle
@Mike in NC:
are you talking about Paul Coble, Helm’s nephew, the former Raleigh Mayor? or George Holding, US Atty? both are trying to play ‘Jesse loved me best’. worse is Bill Randall, on open panderer.
this seat was held for years by a capable Democrat, but the newly GOP Legislature elected in 2010 redistricted it into GOP land. it will become theirs in 2012.
and yes, it is sickening to watch, but the damage was done 2 years ago, and will take 10 years to correct, if we survive.
gaz
Forgive me for not following NY politics, as I live on the other side of US.
When you say Chris Lee is transgender-curious…
Are you saying they are transgendered?
Or are you saying they are a tranny-hawk in the same way that oh… eddie murphey is?
The Ancient Randonneur
Anyone interested in what New Hampshire Democrats are doing and thinking can go to Blue Hampshire. The front pagers are all pretty good and they even have a few current and former office holders making contributions.
ET
I live in DC and sometimes wish I had a local race that did matter beyond the bounds of local DC city politics.
Mike in NC
@belle:
No, the guy I’m thinking of is named Ron Souter or Dave Rouzer or something like that (NC-7th). Competing against the lunatic Pantano and at least one other Repub in the primary.
Gretchen
I’m in eastern Kansas. After my Blue Dog Dem, who served 10 years, retired, we got Tea Party Guy, who just voted for the Paul Ryan budget again. And he doesn’t have a challenger, any challenger at all, yet. This is a purple district, and we got nothing.
Gretchen
I’m in eastern Kansas. After my Blue Dog Dem, who served 10 years, retired, we got Tea Party Guy, who just voted for the Paul Ryan budget again. And he doesn’t have a challenger, any challenger at all, yet. This is a purple district, and we got nothing.
JGabriel
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Donut:
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Heh.
My district has a Cook PVI of D+26. Caroline Maloney will take it walking. Nice to live in a safe Dem district, but it means there’s not much to report locally.
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feebog
OK, updates from SoCal. In the new 30th congressional district (San Fernando Valley) we have two long time Democrats facing off against each other. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman are both pretty solid guys, and I will be OK with either one, although I prefer Sherman. Republicans include Mark Reed, who lost in 2010 to Sherman by over 20 points, and several “some dudes”. We have a candidate forum scheduled for April 12, wherin the top two Dems and the top two Republicans will appear.
One twist in this race is that California has gone to “top two” in the primary, which is June 5. If the “some dude” Republicans (actually there is also a dudette) pull enough votes from Reed, who is the only Republican with name recognition, we could end up with two Dems in slugging it out in the general.
In the other interesting race down here, I am in the 38th Assembley District. This district has been dominated by Republicans for years. It includes the Santa Clarita Valley, most of Simi Valley, and the Northwest portion of the San Fernando Valley. After redistricting it still remains a plus 7 in Republican registration.
Regardless, we do have a viable Democratic candidate in Ed Headington. Ed is a moderate, owns and operates his own business, and has a lot of connections as he has been a staffer for both a Republican Mayor and a Democratic Assembleyman.
There are three Republicans who have declared. One is the former Chief of Staff for long time Congressman Buck McKeon. There is also another very conservative candidate who is a school board trustee. Things got very interesting when Patricia McKeon, Buck’s wife, decided to jump in the race. The three of them have been flinging the monkey poo for months.
All three of the Republican candidates are from Santa Clarita, while Ed is from the San Fernando Valley. He has been pounding the pavement every weekend for months across the district. At this point, we hope that the three Republicans split the vote and Ed comes in first or second. No matter who the Republican candidate is, the general is going to be a slog. We are hoping that grassroots organizing, shoeleather and an Obama landslide will carry us across the finsish line.
Patricia McKeon has a lot of money coming in, and we will be swamped with ads if she is the candidate. OTH, the McKeons are about as corrupt as they come, and a number of stories have already come out. Should be a fun ride.
Buffalo Rude
I love it that Chris Collins, WNY’s version of Mitt Romney (i.e. a politician nobody likes), has decided to remind people why they hate him so soon after we last told him in November. Collins and his “machine” have been nothing but a pile of FAIL for the WNY GOP delegation, so I welcome their continued participation in local politics.
Cmm
I live in John Lewis’ district in Georgia, which is about as safe as it gets, at least til he retires. Haven’t heard much of interest yet about Georgia races in general but with a Republican held state lege and almost completely republican congressional delegation, redistricting wasn’t a big story and probably left everyone pretty safe. Zzz’s. I don’t have tv other than streaming so mercifully am spared the local political ads.
OzoneR
@beltane:
I live next to the district, Bibi wins. Thankfully the district is gone.
piratedan
mistermix… a good blog for AZ dirt is ..
http://www.blogforarizona.com/
The local hairball here is the “rush” to fill Gabby Giffords seat, it appears that the Dems are coalescing around Ron Barber, one of the victims in the Tucson shootings. Unknown if he’s intending to be a placeholder or if he’s looking for a career change. He was a member of her staff, which means he should benefit greatly from any sympathy that remains and reduce the personal attacks that the R’s would have laid against him, although in this political climate, who knows if there is anyone on the R side who would think rationally about such activities. There are a couple of local Dems who have pulled out of this and may wait and see if Barber can retain the seat or not before deciding on next year.
on the R side, we have the same guy who nearly defeated Gabby the last time going again and a lovely set of assorted loons with slick advertisements that are all attempting to outdo each other by claiming various and sundry Tea Party cred. There’s Jesse Kelly, the last loser (for who we can thank a Libertarian candidate who was even more extreme than this guy who siphoned off 3k worth of votes in the last race), Frank Antenori, a local pol and vet who apparently sees anyone who disagrees with him as a traitor or worse yet, a Democrat, Dave Sitton, local TV basketball and football announcer for the University of Arizona, so his name will do extraordinarily well with the great unwashed but seems to be a weathervane R wearing Teaparty clothing, and a former AF Combat pilot, the first female combat pilot is how her campaign is presenting her, draped in the flag and not much in the way of controversy. Unsure if that’s the right call in this race, but as far as the R’ are concerned, it might as well be a Proust Summation Contest. Interesting to see who the R’s select as their standardbearer.
kideni
I’m in WI-2 (Madison, Beloit, extending into rural parts west and north of Madison and a little bit to the east), which is open now that Tammy Baldwin’s running for Senate (help her out!). I can’t remember how much the district changed this year, but it wasn’t much, so it’ll be a Democrat vs. a Republican no one will remember (I think the same guy who lost to Tammy in 2010 has declared, but no one really cares). The declared Dem candidates are Assembly Reps. Mark Pocan and Kelda Helen Roys, and Dane County Treasurer David Worzala.
Mark Pocan would fill the hilarious gay man spot that Barney Frank is leaving. He came up with the Fitzwalkerstan moniker for the regime Walker and the Fitzgeralds created, and he’s always good for a quote on just about anything. He’s also solid on all areas social and fiscal, and he’s been exposing ALEC for what it is for about a decade now. All that said, he has an amazing ability to actually establish and maintain friendships with Republicans, which led to good bipartisan legislation before the recent insanity (e.g., a few years ago he got a bill ensuring emergency contraception for rape victims through with Republican support). He’s been in the Assembly for 14 years and has been waiting for Tammy’s spot to open up. He also runs a small business (his shop prints signs and T-shirts), so he brings that perspective to the mix. His is a union shop, and he’s lined up a lot of endorsements from them, GLBT groups, and activist groups. I admit that he’s my choice, partly because he’s my state rep and I want to continue having him in my political life, and partly because I think he’d be effective.
Kelda Helen Roys is finishing up her second term in the Assembly, after having been a lawyer with NARAL for a few years (she’s still in her early 30s). She’s great on social issues and a solid progressive all around, but she’s not as flashy as Pocan. She’s kind of fighting the impression that Pocan is the designated successor to Tammy, but sometimes she makes a misstep in getting herself out there (e.g., when Pocan was getting ready to announce, he put the word out ahead of time for a noontime announcement; Roys sent her announcement out that same morning, which was widely seen as purposely stepping on Pocan’s thunder — she could easily have made her announcement the day before or a couple of days after, so her timing came across badly). She’s a strong candidate, though, and I’d be fully behind her if Pocan weren’t in the race.
Worzala has been pretty quiet, but he has more money than anyone since he can apparently self fund. He has the most experience in Washington, since he worked at the OMB in the Clinton administration before coming back to Wisconsin. He’s a progressive, but he seems to be positioning himself primarily as a budget guy who can help get the economy back in order while strengthening the safety net. He doesn’t really make much news, partly because the office of county treasurer doesn’t have nearly the platform that Pocan and Roys had as state reps fighting for the people in a contentious legislative session. Since he’s the quietest, it’s possible that the leftier parts of the district will split between Pocan and Roys, and Worzala will squeak out ahead with the rest.
Any of the three would be fine, I think. As I said, I’m pulling for Pocan, since I think he’s strongest all around. However it turns out, WI-2 should be sending another good Democrat to Congress this year.
Arclite
Out here in Hawaii, the primary between Dem Mazie Hirono and DINO Ed Case will determine the next Senator from Hawaii (either one will beat former Repub Governor Linda Lingle easily). Right now, they’re polling neck and neck. Having Ed Case as a senator would be a minor disaster, so any help for Mazie will help prevent that. Hirono for Senate.
iriedc
@ET: don’t you think the Mayor’s race kinda matters nationally? When Mr. Barry won in the 1990s, the Gingrich Republican Congress went out of their way to screw the city over and loved talking about it in the news. Granted our Mayor race is in the off years, so you’re more right than not. #sigh
Ron
I’m just trying to figure out what district I will be voting for in November. I am currently in NY-24, but we’re near the edge of it, so I wonder where we’ll end up after all this.