Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The willow is too close to the house.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

This really is a full service blog.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

This fight is for everything.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

The revolution will be supervised.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / It’s an invitation across the nation

It’s an invitation across the nation

by | 67 Comments

This post is in: 

Good news:

As of the end of June, 209 Democratic challengers had registered with the FEC and raised at least $5,000. That more than doubled the previous high mark since 2003. In 2009, the Republicans had 78 challengers with at least $5,000. The early GOP challengers in 2009 foreshadowed the party’s regaining majority control. The question is whether the same will hold true for the Democrats in 2018.

The number of challengers at six months is truly remarkable. And the candidates are not simply bunching up in a few primaries. Yes, there is some doubling up: six Democrats have filed so far against John Faso in New York’s 19th congressional district. But there is also a good spread. So far, 105 different Republican incumbents have Democratic challengers with $5,000. At this same time in 2009, only 50 of the Democratic incumbents were up against challengers with $5,000.

Let’s keep it up! Donate below to a fund that is spread equally among all districts currently held by Republicans.

Goal Thermometer

Tell us about anyone in your district who is running against a Republican incumbent in the comments.

Reader Interactions

67Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    Can we please keep kidd Rogg away from elected office? He’s started a non-profit org to get people registered to vote. His kind of people.

  2. 2.

    Hunter Gathers

    That’s an awful lot of candidates for a party that has no message. is adrift and generally sucks.

    Or so I’m told.

  3. 3.

    misterpuff

    We have got

    The information

    In a way

    we hope

    will amuse you

    Insert Goldie Hawn Mark I Giggle

    Bo Boop Be DO!

    Yea I’m old and smiling!

  4. 4.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I got two turntables and a microphone…

    Love the Beck reference.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    As a born optimist, I’m going to assume the writer meant $5,000 each in the lede.

  10. 10.

    Yarrow

    I saw this article a little while ago. I really hope they can take out Pete Sessions. Culberson would just be a bonus.

    Control for the U.S. House could run through Texas, thanks to a flood of Democrats lining up to challenge two longtime GOP incumbents – John Culberson of Houston and Pete Sessions of Dallas.
    ….
    In past cycles, national Democratic groups had a heavy hand in candidate recruitment and telegraphed favored candidates to donors and reporters. This time around, thanks to a burst of anti-Trump enthusiasm and wounds from the 2016 presidential primary fight, party brokers are letting the primary process run its course without playing favorites in many districts around the country — including in Dallas and Houston.

    The result is a crush of candidates lining up to run for office, including three who announced their campaigns on Wednesday.

    Triantaphyliss and Westin joined a crowded field vying to run against Culberson that already included Joshua Butler, James Cargas, Debra Kerner and Laura Moser.

    Up north in Dallas, former Hillary Clinton staffer Ed Meier also announced he would join former NFL player Colin Allred in running for the Democratic nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions. Several others – including Awbrey Tyler Hughlett, Stephen Leroy Love, Ronald William Marshall, Danielle Pellett and Darrell Allen Rodriguez – have also filed to run for the seat.

    Party officials anticipate even more candidates to run in both districts.

  11. 11.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I work and do most of my business in KY-03, represented by the ALWAYS wonderful John Yarmuth, but sadly reside in sprawling, gerrymandered KY-04, “represented” by wingnut’s wingnut Tom Massie (R-Koch’s Cock). He can’t seem to find himself any actual district specific issue, and is solely focused on big wingnut themes on behalf of the heavy population lump in the southern Cincinnati suburbs in NKY – that district is hopeless, as the northeast sprawl of Louisville isn’t real dense in that direction and has a pretty large share of heroic white paper pushers and management types who love to vote GOP.

    However, in IN-09, my friend Dan Canon (a lawyer in Louisville, who was a big part of Obergefell) is running against Tennessee carpetbagging wingnut Trey Hollingsworth. This district includes the northern suburbs of Louisville and the city of Evansville. It is historically competitive, was Democratic from 1965 to 2005 (Blue Dogs Lee Hamilton and Baron Hill), and again from 2007 to 2011 (Baron Hill again). It is winnable. Dan hit me up today, and I will be showering him with love.

    He’s a good guy in a competitive district. Bestow some affection.

  12. 12.

    jl

    Could we send them what Mooch is taking? With warning to cut the dose, of course.
    Want a lot of energy, but not out-of-your head frenzy and shakes and screaming.

  13. 13.

    Suburban Mom

    In NJ’s 7th district incumbent Republican Leonard Lance has already accumulated 4 challengers. Two are women. It’s a big deal because Hillary won the district, which is culturally liberal and relatively well educated. The seat was considered safe until after Trump was elected.

  14. 14.

    Turgidson

    I live in California’s 13th, represented by Barbara Lee. So I’m pretty much in the most-liberalest district in all the land. I’ll throw some money in the “all challengers” fund between now and Nov. 2018 as I am able.

  19. 19.

    burnspbesq

    Also, let’s not forget that we have borderline districts to defend, like NJ-05.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @lgerard: There are so many Trump administration catastrophes coming so quickly that we need a system to keep track of them all. I suggest adapting the system that astronomers use for super novas and the like: Scaramucci’s meltdown would be CF20170727e (5th detected Clusterfuck of July 27 2017). Of course this particular naming scheme breaks down once we pass the 26 clusterfuck per day mark, which I think is projected to happen by Halloween.

  24. 24.

    dmsilev

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I know. If Trump and his crew are doing this badly purely out of their own incompetence, what happens when there’s an actual external challenge for them to deal with? Not much fun to think about.

  26. 26.

    The Dangerman

    @jl:

    Could we send them what Mooch is taking?

    Without Mooch, would we know that Bannon is taking his yoga seriously?

  29. 29.

    Chris

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    “The Trump administration has yet to have to deal with a crisis that isn’t self inflicted” is one of the sadly truest things I’ve read about this maladministration in the last 7 months.

  30. 30.

    Thoughtful David

    @dmsilev: Nah. you can just go to aa, ab, ac, ad,…zz. However, the number of electrons in the universe is (probably) finite, so at we might start running out of pixels before about, say, January 2018.

  31. 31.

    Thoughtful David

    @The Dangerman: An actual LOL.

    ETA: Can you imagine any previous person–I mean before the Trump administration–saying what he said out loud?

    How low we have sunk.

  32. 32.

    smintheus

    In PA-15 the FEC website seems to have only a local politician, William Leiner. No indication that he has raised any money at all yet. That has been the norm in all of Charlie Dent’s campaigns, he faces only token Dem opposition. But his district has recently been split in half and gerrymandered to the normal ridiculous degree.

  33. 33.

    sharl

    This just happened today, so it’s probably a bit too early to know what’s going to happen in MD-6. So far it has not been confirmed by the man himself.

    Kevin Robillard‏ @PoliticoKevin

    NEWS: @RepJohnDelaney won’t run for reelection or #MDGov in 2018. Democratic Rep. Delaney eyes 2020 presidential run

    Maryland Dems gerrymandered that part of the state after the 2010 census, by redrawing boundaries to dilute the conservative voters in the relatively sparsely populated northwest Appalachian panhandle of Maryland with some of the higher populated and more Democratic regions in suburbs just northwest of DC – there’s a map of MD-6 here, for anyone interested. That redistricting cost old timey GOP Rep. Roscoe Bartlett the seat in 2012; in the old district he got voted in by the panhandle folks.

    I came across this news via someone on twitter who found the idea of Delaney running for President absurd. I feel the same way, although after 2016 I don’t laugh too hard at implausible stuff like this. Delaney is the third wealthiest person in Congress and the richest among the Dems – more on that from this site that was really slowwww to load for me – so I’m guessing this is a case of a rich, bored, and frustrated dude doing his rich, bored, and frustrated thing.

    I’ll cast my eyes toward the distant northwest horizon occasionally, to see what will be happening up that way.

  34. 34.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Turgidson:

    I’m in Joe Kennedy’s (Barney Frank’s) district so I may have you beat, except he’s a white guy so I’ll give the tie to the runner. I’ll kick in too.

    Dems have won all three special elections in districts that were red – in OK and NH. So, there’s that thin reed.

  35. 35.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @germy:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kid-rock-wants-people-to-sign-up-to-vote-at-his-concerts_us_597a2b44e4b02a8434b4e412

    He’s also exploring plans to run for the Senate. What a dick.

    Kid Rock often fails to rock Michigan primary vote

    http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2017/07/24/kid-rock-primary-votes/103945880/

    If Kid Rock is serious about seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, he’ll be doing something he and most Americans rarely do: Participating in a primary election.

    Voter participation records reviewed by The Detroit News show Rock did not vote in Michigan’s 2016 GOP presidential primary election won by President Donald Trump and has cast ballots in two of 10 other statewide or presidential primaries since 2002.

    The self-described Republican originally supported Detroit native Ben Carson ahead of the 2016 Michigan primary, but later praised Trump and performed last year for delegates at the GOP’s national convention in Cleveland.

    The Clarkston resident, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, hasn’t missed a general election since 2006, when he sat out a cycle that saw Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm win re-election over Republican businessman Dick DeVos. He also missed the 2002 gubernatorial contest when Granholm defeated Republican Dick Posthumus….

    Asked about Kid Rock’s voting record last week, a spokesman said he would “be in touch soon” but did not respond to a subsequent inquiry.

    If he launches a campaign for Senate, which he has been teasing, Rock would not be the only candidate in the race who has missed elections…

    “It still smells like a publicity stunt — a very good one, but I just don’t see it happening,” said Susan Demas, editor and owner of Inside Michigan Politics, a newsletter. “I don’t think there’s any incentive for him to give up this story line for a while.”

    Rock has not yet filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission, which is legally required within 15 days of raising or spending $5,000 for a campaign. He may have already hit the threshold just by printing the logoed merchandise on his website, let alone selling it.

    Last Monday, he tweeted out a photo of himself wearing a “Kid Rock ’18” shirt on a stage with his middle fingers extended in a crude gesture.0

    More GOP primary challengers are listed and explained in the article.

  37. 37.

    LurkerNoLonger

    I’m glad to hear Faso has so many challengers. I look forward to voting for any one of them come November 2018.

  39. 39.

    zhena gogolia

    Testing. I’ve tried three times to comment on the thread below and it disappears.

  40. 40.

    mai naem mobile

    @dmsilev: this is what worries me. Theu are not capable of dealing with a 9/11,Katrina or major natural disaster or,elextric grid going down. Dolt45 thinks he’s in a reality TV show.

  41. 41.

    JMG

    So here’s the Ryan-McConnell plan, it seems. 1. Skinny passes Senate. House doesn’t vote on it, but stacks conference committee with Freedom Caucus. Bill that emerges is as close to repeal without replace as they can manage. Bill returns to Senate, “moderates” vanish as per usual. Bill becomes law.
    Will it work? Beats me. But it seems like a pretty good plan from their side. They know their caucus members are either loons or complete cowards.

  42. 42.

    Walker

    @JMG:

    I don’t believe this. I think the plan is to let skinny pass, destroy the market, “forcing” everyone to do a full repeal.

  43. 43.

    germy



    Who was the republican senator who introduced a single payer bill? Not because he wanted one; he just wanted the democrats to vote against it.

  45. 45.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Yarrow:
    Oh, I’m sure he already is. I’ll make sure to contribute another 25 dollars above to the eventual Democratic challenger (likely the incumbent) in case he does decide to run and somehow wins the primary

  46. 46.

    sharl

    @germy:

    Who was the republican senator who introduced a single payer bill? Not because he wanted one; he just wanted the democrats to vote against it.

    That was Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana). Dave Weigel wrote up a pretty good piece on that bit of attempted legislative trolling.

    That proposed legislation was basically Rep. John Conyers’ single-payer proposal, and Conyers himself issued a statement telling Senate Dems. to vote ‘No’ on it – here’s Conyers twitter thread on the same topic.

  48. 48.

    A Ghost to Most

    @sharl:
    Roscoe Bartlett was my congress critter for over 20 years. I really hated that revanchist asshole.

  49. 49.

    JeanneT

    My son, Jeff Thomas, is running for the Democratic nomination in Michigan’s Third Congressional District. If he wins the nomination, he’ll face off with Justin Amash.

    It’s a long shot, and we don’t yet know how many Democrats will run for the nomination, but Jeff hopes that we get a strong and active candidate to run a real door knocking, public meeting and out-loud progressive campaign against Amash. The last Democratic candidate, though well heeled, was almost invisible during his campaign.

  50. 50.

    Steve in the ATL

    @JeanneT: that’s what Jon Ossoff did and he outperformed every Democrat in decades in this district. Best of luck to your son!

  51. 51.

    Ian G.

    So all the Italian-American groups that protested “The Sopranos” or “Jersey Shore” for their negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans are going to end up calling out Trump for hiring the bastard child of Christopher Moltisanti and The Situation as his communications director, right?

  52. 52.

    sharl

    @A Ghost to Most: I was no fan of ol’ Roscoe, although the memory of when he got conned into taking part in a “coronation” – as Messiah! – of convicted felon and Moonie leader Sun Myung Moon warms my irony-loving charcoal heart.

    Sadly, among the bipartisan group of politicians conned into that were one or two folks I respect. It must have been one hell of a con job by the Moonie leadership. But the thought of flinty old crank Roscoe getting sucked into it makes me feel a lot better about it. I wish I could find more photos of the event, especially with Roscoe front-and-center.

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    Done.

    Is there any way to make the Thermometer a weekly feature, or put it on the sidebar? (Assuming it’s not too much trouble.)

    Thanks for setting this up, and for the reminders!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    smintheus

    @sharl: When was the last time someone from the House managed to get elected president, from either party? Or even win a party nomination? LBJ doesn’t count.

  61. 61.

    efgoldman

    @dmsilev:

    John Quincy Adams, I think, for winning the Presidency.

    Not taking the time and effort to look it up, but I believe JQA was elected to the house after his presidency.

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    Adrianna McIntyre:

    Adrianna McIntyre‏ @onceuponA

    Adrianna McIntyre Retweeted Jacob Leibenluft

    gchat: “house freedom caucus sees every situation as a hostage situation”

    Adrianna McIntyre added,

    Jacob Leibenluft Verified account @jleibenluft
    Replying to @jleibenluft

    In conference, as many have noted, House can tell Senate: accept our demands, or else we’ll pass your bill.

    6:14 PM – 27 Jul 2017

    If it passes the Senate, they’re going to ram something through.

    This is it.

    (via LOLGOP twitterings)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    Gretchen

    3 challengers to Yoder in Kansas. I’m loving Sen. Jerry Moran’s Facebook page. He’s got the usual progressives hating that he voted yes on the motion to proceed. But the conservatives hate him because he voted against the full repeal. So everybody hates him. He hasn’t pleased one single constituent with his actions of the last couple of weeks. And he’s up in 2018! And Kansas is recovering from the Brownback hangover and voted in a bunch of moderates and Democrats last election to fix the Brownback mess. Could Kansas be a pickup opportunity next time? It might happen.

Comments are closed.