Update at 7:45 pm – We have a $1,000 match!
An angel will match Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ($750) and Susan Wild ($250). That will put both of them over the top for the $4,500 we are trying to raise for each person. I am making note of the donation amounts for each person right now, and as soon as Marie and as soon as each one increases by the amounts above, they will have hit at least $4,500 and will join Marcy, Sharice, Gabe and Elaine on “pause” while we get the rest to at least $3.500.
In a late comment on the last post, Mary Peltola (AK-01) was suggested for inclusion in this list. My first thought was “yes!” But yesterday was Sept 30, so I think we should wait for the quarterly fundraising figures, which we should be seeing really soon. Let’s see what Mary Peltola’s race looks like funding-wise. My gut feeling is that she will be getting national money from a whole bunch of sources, but we will know soon enough. If our money can make a difference, I would love to see us add her. If it turns out that she is swimming in money, we’ll let others support her and we’ll donate where our money isn’t salt in the ocean.
Matching: We met the $1,000 for Mercedes Krause (NV-02)! So she has gained a lot of ground in the thermometer! I really hadn’t thought of matching for these thermometers, but if anyone else is really invested in a particular candidate on the list, and you want to put up a match for your candidate, we can do that.
Candidate Notes: We added Emilia Sykes (OH-13) yesterday, too. Susan Wild (PA-07) was the 5th person added to the thermometer, and she is at just over $4,000. When she hits $4,500, she will join Marcy, Sharice, Gabe and Elaine in “pause” mode while we try to get everyone on the list to at least $3,500.
Unless you customize the amounts, donations to this thermometer will be split 8 ways.
These 4 have reached at least $4,500 each, so they are currently paused on the list.
*Marcy Kaptur (OH-09)
*Sharice Davids (KS-03)
*Gabe Vasquez (NM-02)
*Elaine Luria (VA-02)
*Susan Wild (PA-07)
Current Recipients
Josh Riley (NY-19)
Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) – $750 match right now
Eric Sorenson (IL-17)
Tony Vargas (NE-02)
Yadira Caraveo (CO-08)
Susie Lee (NV-03)
Mercedes Krause (NV-02)
Emilia Sykes (OH-13)
Winnable House Races Purple Districts
If you want to learn more about the folks on the list, click on the Targeted Political Fundraising Fall 2022 tag up top and check out some of the other posts in this series.
Here’s where we’re at right now:
Reminder: our next thermometer will be Election Protection in Key States, which will be a series like this one. Only we’ll be rolling out key races that have a huge impact on election protections, like Secretary of State, Attorney General, Governor, and possibly pivotal judges on state Supreme Courts.
All of the targeted fundraising thermometers for this fall (so far) are in the sidebar, and also at the link below. I have a link to each one in the sidebar now. The link doesn’t show the thermometer itself, but it takes you to it. I thought it might be easier to remember what all the options are if they are listed.
All Targeted Fundraising Thermometers
Totally open thread!
raven
yo
WaterGirl
@raven: yo back.
evap
Bee Ngyun is running for Sec of State in GA and she is terrific. She has been my state house representative for a while and she decided to plunge into a state-wide race this year. (My state house district is solid blue, btw.) The current evil GOP (but I repeat myself) SoS Brad Raffensberger took a lot of heat in 2020 because he told Dump to take a hike when asked to “find some votes”. There might be some MAGA types who don’t want to vote for him. On the other hand, he helped craft the new GA voter law, because he figured better to change the law than to do something illegal. I don’t think Bee has much of a chance, but it’s not 0 chance.
Edited: In case it’s not crystal clear, Ngyun is a democrat.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Yo Ma.
Thanks for keeping this up.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
@Another Scott: Yo mama whut? :P
Another Scott
@Yutsano: WG’s reply to raven should have been
“yo ma”
as in Yo-Yo Ma.
I do wonder, though, if there’s a Yo-Ma Ma out there somewhere.
;-p
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
On topic: Peltola will probably be swimming in money, but Alaska gets expensive fast. Still: she’s against Palin and Begich again and I swear Begich is in it just to make sure Palin doesn’t win. The ranked choice votes in a three-way split* could be fascinating.
*there was a fourth candidate but he dropped out. I’m too lazy to Google the why right now.
EDIT: Oh and Russia lost another city in the Donbas.
Kent
Yes. This race is very interesting. I lived in Alaska for 10 years and politics there are different from elsewhere. Peltola is extremely likeable and respected. The more Palin and Begich go after each other with the blood-letting the more she becomes a reasonable 2nd choice for both Palin and Begich partisans.
The 4th candidate is Chris Bye who is the Libertarian candidate. I don’t think he has dropped out. He just has no funding and isn’t really running a real campaign.
The candidate who withdrew from the November ballot was Tara Sweeney who was another native candidate with links to Lisa Murkowski. Her husband is a former Murkowski aid. She placed 4th in the August special election and I suspect is at least partially deferring to Peltola and not wanting to bleed native votes away from her.
raven
@Another Scott: Bama has a player named Kool Aide and the Hogs have a “Rocket” at running back and Bumper Pool at linebacker.
Geminid
@Kent: I wonder if there will be a tacit alliance between Murkowski and Peltola. Peltola’s a Native, and promises to make Alaska’s seat “pro-choice, pro-worker, pro-fish, and pro-family.” I read that Murkowski’s singular write-in victory in 2010 was made possible by strong support from organized labor and Alaska’s Native Corporations. It seems like the two women could have a lot of the same people working for them.
Roll Call’s “At the Races” column Thursday had an item about Representative Peltola. It said her campaign slogan is “Pro Fish, Pro Family and Pro Freedom.”
H.E.Wolf
It’s very interesting to learn about all these candidates. The challengers are exciting – and the incumbents have been excellent workhorses in the House.
On Sept. 30, Speaker Pelosi appointed Susan Wild the acting Chair of the House Ethics Committee. (Full Democratic caucus will vote on the actual appointment soon.)
If Nancy SMASH thinks well of Rep. Wild, I’m inclined to do the same. :)
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
How much Ma could a Yo-Yo ma
If a Yo-Yo could ma Ma?
Steeplejack
@evap:
Bee Nguyen’s website.
Jackie
I think Mary Peltola‘s decision to hire several of Don Young’s staff was brilliant. Her staff is truly bipartisan and should appeal to both parties.
WaterGirl
@H.E.Wolf: Wow, I did not know that about the ethics committee. Impressive.
Kent
@Geminid:
I have absolutely no idea. But it wouldn’t surprise me. Murkowski is about the furthest thing you can get from a MAGA Republican. I expect she despises Trump with every fiber of her being. And probably Palin too. She is basically the Republican version of say….Claire McCaskill.
Murkowski won her write-in campaign not only with the heavy lift of natives, but also Democrats. Basically she lost a very low-turnout closed GOP primary to a tea-party dipshit and then decided to run as a write-in in the general election. They printed hundreds of thousands of Murkowski stickers that people could bring to the polls and paste-in on the write-in line. Very organized.
Geminid
@Jackie: I thought that was good move too. There are fewer registered Democrats than Republicans in Alaska, and the largest group of all are the Independents. I’ve read that Alaskans are especially keen on constituent services. This makes sense because Alaska is very much affected by the federal government.
daize
Thanks for these posts, WG. They’re so important, and I do need to be reminded! We donated.
Kent
Yes. As much of a dipshit Don Young was on the national stage, he was actually a very big supporter of native rights in Alaska and his first wife was native (Gwich’in) and from a family of long-time native leaders. She died in 2009 and he eventually remarried so it wasn’t the Newt Gingrich dispose of your first wife sort of thing.
She actually hired Don Young’s chief of staff to work in the same role in her office. And promises to continue his legacy on native, natural resource, and fisheries issues. Very smart move on her part and necessary if she wants to keep the seat: https://www.adn.com/politics/2022/09/12/as-peltola-prepares-for-swearing-in-she-hires-chief-of-staff-to-the-late-rep-don-young
Murkowski also hired 3 of Don Young’s former staffers. So there is obviously a lot of connection between Peltola and Murkowski’s staff. Hmmm…..
Geminid
I ran into items about two of our featured candidates in Politico’s Wednesday Afternoon Playbook. One was a link to a September 28 AP article about Sharice Davids (KS-3). She has a rematch with Amanda Atkins, whom she beat by 10 points in 2020. The district was redrawn to be more Republican friendly, but is still considered +D. Davids is leaning into the abortion rights issue, while Atkins is trying to make economics the focus.
The Playbook also had an item about an ad Virginia Governor Youngkin cut for Jen Kiggans, Representative Elaine Luria’s (VA-2) opponent. Kiggans is a state Senator. The article said that Youngkin carried the redrawn district by double digits last year, so Ms. Luria definitely has a challenging reelection fight.
realbtl
If you have some sorta longshoot $ Monica Tranel is running for our newly created 2nd Congressional seat. Her opponent is lying asshole Ryan Zinke (spit).
PsiFighter37
@evap: Seems like a great candidate. Not to be a downer, though, but I still don’t think GA is a true swing state, but one that is more like Nevada has become for Democrats – a solid ‘lean’ state in their column, but one where exogenous factors (namely Trump and terrible candidates like Herschel Walker) can flip it the other way. I don’t think Warnock has any coattails, and while I think he will likely end up winning by more than he did last year (either outright in the first round or in the runoff), I simply don’t see Abrams, Nguyen or any other statewide candidate breaking through this year. In hindsight, I think Abrams not conceding in 2018 was a strategic error and to me is the primary reason why she will do worse this year than in 2018. It’s not going to be a blowout, but I think Kemp carries the state in the first round at a 52-46 margin, or something like that. And I don’t see how any downballot Democrat performs better, especially since I could see Raffensperger picking up some crossover votes for being seen as an impartial arbiter in 2020 (nevermind his support for continued retrograde voter repression laws thereafter).
WaterGirl
Update at 7:45 pm – We have a $1,000 match!
An angel will match Marie Gluesenkamp Perez ($750) and Susan Wild ($250). That will put both of them over the top for the $4,500 we are trying to raise for each person. I am making note of the donation amounts for each of them right now, and as soon as Marie and as soon as each one increases by the amounts above, they will have hit at least $4,500 and will join Marcy, Sharice, Gabe and Elaine on “pause” while we get the rest to at least $3.500.
WaterGirl
@PsiFighter37: Stacey Abrams did concede, but she also called out the fact that it wasn’t won fair and square.
Why do you think that would be impacting her now? Have you read something that leads you to think that is hurting Stacey Abrams?
WaterGirl
@Geminid: Hopefully there are a ton of people who regretted their vote for Youngkin.
frosty
I just kicked in $25 for Susan Wild.
WaterGirl
@frosty: thank you!
Kent
OK, I’ll kick in another $100 for Marie. You twisted my arm!
Wolvesvalley
I kicked in $112.50 for Susan Wild yesterday, but here’s another $25 today to help with the match.
WaterGirl
@Kent: Aren’t you the person who lobbied for Marie in the first place? :-)
PsiFighter37
@WaterGirl: I think it’s impacting her because she is running behind Warnock in every single poll (and I don’t think a single one has shown her in the lead, even within the MoE), and it’s the most obvious difference between why she would be received differently now vs. in 2018.
I think she’s great personally, and the work she has done to build a formidable infrastructure for Georgia Democratic GOTV is second to none. But if I had to pick, I think Beto will finish closer to Abbott than Abrams will to Kemp – and personally, I think neither one wins. Heck, I think Democrats have a better shot of holding the House than winning TX or GA gubernatorial races.
Kent
@WaterGirl: Well yes. This is my 4th donation to her campaign. I have my daughter’s fall tuition bill coming up rapidly so I better pace myself.
Geminid
@PsiFighter37: One other difference from 2018 is that Georgia has a growing econimy and a fiscally sound state government. Rightly or wrongly, some of that is bound to rub off on an incumbent Governor like Kemp.
That may explain some of the difference between Warnock’s and Abrams’ poll numbers. And while Kemp is a fairly strong candidate, Walker is an exceptionally weak one.
Also, the Senate race has a Black man running against another Black man. In the Governor race, Abrams is a Black woman running against a White man. That’s gotta be worth at least a couple points for Kemp.
WaterGirl
@Kent: Ha!
Jesse
In for $45 ($5 each).
WaterGirl
@Jesse: thank you!
WaterGirl
Susan Wild (PA-07) is at $4,500! Donations to her through this thermometer have been paused until everyone on the list reaches $3,500. Thanks to everyone who met the $250 match!
We have $400 left to match donations to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03).
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: +100 to Perez.
Mumble to the others.
Let’s get this done. 36 days until election day and some people are already voting early. (We got our absentee ballots Friday.) :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: Now we have $300 left to match for Maria!
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Looks like we posted our comments at the same time. Not sure if the $300 was before or after you donated your $100.
Once we’re at 7 active candidates in the list, they will each get a higher percentage of split donations. :-) 5 down, 8 to go!
edit: After.