One of our Bj peeps, hells littlest angel, has made the case for Josh Riley (NY-19) to be added to our Winnable House Races in Purple Districts thermometer. Unless you customize the amounts, donations to this thermometer will be split 6 ways.
Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
Sharice Davids (KS-03)
Gabe Vasquez (NM-02)
Elaine Luria (VA-02)
Susan Wild (PA-07)
Josh Riley (NY-19)
Winnable House Races Purple Districts
Josh Riley is about even in dollars with his opponent, with most of his funding coming from out of state. I can’t find any polling data, but the race is considered a toss-up.
Josh Riley on Choice:
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson, which overturned Roe v Wade, is an affront to progress, liberty, and women’s rights. We must not allow it to stand. (You can read Josh’s op-ed on this issue here.) Josh will take the following steps to fight back:
First, Josh will sponsor the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify Roe’s protections in federal statute. The bill states that a health care provider has a right to provide abortion services, and the provider’s patient has a right to receive them—and that’s exactly the way the law should be.
Second, because it is not enough for Congress simply to codify Roe, Josh will also work to close the loopholes that states have used to create “bounty programs” to circumvent Roe’s protections. Congress should update jurisdictional and procedural statutes to make clear that the Justice Department and aggrieved individuals have recourse in the courts when their freedom is infringed.
Third, we must ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. In Dobbs, the Supreme Court concluded that the 14th Amendment’s protections for liberty do not cover abortion. Instead of relying on the 14th Amendment—and the Supreme Court’s incorrect interpretation of it—we should enact a new amendment making women’s reproductive freedom crystal clear. As an attorney, Josh submitted a federal court briefing arguing for ratification of the ERA, and he will continue that fight in Congress.
Fourth, the federal government should do everything it can to protect and expand women’s access to FDA-approved abortion medications, which are approved for the first ten weeks and are used for about 50% of abortions today. After a draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked in May, Josh sent a letter to the Justice Department, urging it to file lawsuits against states that try to ban those medications. Under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, the federal government’s ruling authorizing the use of abortion medications takes precedence over state laws prohibiting them – so women have a legal right to abortion medications today even with Roe being overturned. The Justice Department must enforce that right. In addition, Josh has written a letter to the FDA, urging it to extend its approval for these medications from 10 weeks to 12.
Fifth, Josh will use the congressional appropriations process to fight back against the Dobbs decision. A few years after Roe was decided, anti-choice lawmakers attached the Hyde Amendment to government funding bills to prohibit the use of federal funds for abortion services, thereby denying necessary medical care to low-income women. Now, in response to Dobbs, it is time for pro-choice lawmakers to turn the tables by attaching amendments to appropriations bills to withhold certain funding from states that restrict women’s access to reproductive healthcare.
Reminder: all of the targeted fundraising thermometers for this fall are in the sidebar, and available right here and through the link in the sidebar. Besides this one, there are thermometers for the AZ Executives (Firewall) and one for Charlie Crist so we can give DeSantis the boot, and make him a one-term governor and a zero-term president!
All Targeted Fundraising Thermometers
Totally open thread!
WereBear
I saw Castorelli signs in the red area I drove through yesterday. He’s our pick in the primary and we’ve donated. Going after Elise Stefanik.
Not seeing as many of her signs this year.
Those who haven’t clicked on my nym lately will find I’ve added a new feature to the cat blog. The Cat Shelter Project. Articles aimed at car newbies. Feel free to share them. With anyone who needs the help.
Barbara
I made a big donation because I have been meaning to do it for a while.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for keeping us aware of winnable House races!
evap
I hope that when the dust is settled after election day someone will let us know how these candidates did. I will of course know what happens in the senate and governor races, but I might not remember to check these house races. My own house district is dark blue, so no surprises there.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: wowser! Yes, you did!
WaterGirl
@evap: I will definitely do that!
WaterGirl
@H.E.Wolf: Thanks also to the folks who are taking the time to make their case for additional people who should be on this list.
WaterGirl
@evap: So, given that we will share the outcomes of all the races we are supporting… what would you consider a “win” for us on BJ?
Half the seats go our way? 1/4 of the seats go our way? All of the seats go our way?
WaterGirl
@WereBear: From Stefanik’s website:
Can this possibly be correct? The results seem absurd to me.
WaterGirl
@WereBear:
WaterGirl
@WereBear: from the Daily Gazette in NY
Is there anyone who wants to do some research and let us know what the money situation is now, nearly a month after that was written?
Geminid
@WaterGirl: You may have to wait for a few days after November 8. In 2020 it took three days for Abigail Spanberger to be declared the winner in the VA 7th CD. I think it took 4 days for Lauren Underwood’s win to be confirmed. There is a good chance we still won’t know on November 9 if the Democrats have held tbe House.
jonas
@WereBear: We were up in the Adirondacks last week and I was surprised to see as many Castelli signs as we did. That’s deep-red Trump territory for the most part up there and there was plenty of Stefanik/MAGA swag on people’s lawns, to be sure, but to even see a Dem candidate’s signs anywhere suggests something’s maybe shifting. I think Stefanik’s still a strong favorite, but maybe not a slam dunk?
WaterGirl
@jonas: I really hope someone here is willing to do the research on current polling and the financial side in the past month since the article I shared was written.
If he’s really gaining momentum, it might be prudent for us to help. Otherwise, we will have to cross our fingers and wish him well. But what a great thing it would be to kick her out of the boat.
edit: This request is in refer for someone to research the current situation is in reference to one specific race – NY-21.
Geminid
Very few House races will get much attention in national media outlets. But I’ve found that if I look up say, Sharice Davids I’ll find plenty of articles in state newspapers, although the doggone Kansas City Star paywalls its content. There’s plenty of other media including TV stations which often have good text versions of their stories. Local communities like Shawnee Mission have newspapers that cover the candidates.
Sharice Davids has made little national news since she entered Congress January, 2019, and she has not tried to. But Davids has had a fairly constant presence in local media, not campaigning exactly but still building her case for reelection.
WaterGirl
@Geminid: Yep. The article I quoted was a state newspaper in NY.
Geminid
@WaterGirl: It’s possible that the website entry could be from a couple months ago. If polls have changed in favor of the Democrats since then Stefanik’s people would probably not update it.
smintheus
Wild had a couple million dollars more than her opponent (Scheller) as of July, an opponent she defeated in 2020. Scheller has never raised much money, has no political experience, and is easily portrayed as an heiress outsourcing local jobs to China. There’s only a single public poll from July, done by a sketchy Republican firm…not reliable.
WaterGirl
@smintheus:
That may well be the case, but they changed the district to make it more Republican, which is why this Wild race for PA-07 is more contested this time.
WereBear
@jonas: I’m in a college town and we’re dark blue. But where I go to do certain kinds of shopping is deep red. And I’ve seen the change from loud and proud Trumpness to the Trump signs dwindling away.
Now, it seems only the hardest core people display their Elise lawn signs.
Everyone else shows the local races where they are too *********** to say they’re Republicans, so you know anyway. But seeing the rare Elise sign clumped in among them makes it clear. She’s not someone they want to put on her lawn.
topclimber
@WereBear: A smart thing Castelli did was to set up a moderate line where GOPers (not GQPers) can vote for him without endorsing the Democratic Party. Stefanik has transformed from hacko to wacko and I think her money edge is not going to help her out.
Immanentize
I grew up in what is now NY 19, in Endwell NY, which is right next door to where Josh Riley is from (Endicott). Maine-Endwell and Union-Endicott highschools were fierce rivals, but we were almost all kids of immigrants of one flavor or another whose forebearers worked in the shoe factories of Endicott-Johnson Shoes. People tell me he is a good guy and so much better than Molinaro, his GOP opponent. The newly drawn district 19 is more Dem favorable, so let’s hope!
Josè
test
smintheus
@WaterGirl: I know the district. I live there.