2018 congressional races

As though our politics isn't right-wing enough, and isn't controlled enough by Big Money and rigged against working families, there's a new group intern calling itself The Centrist Project, "the only national organization working to recruit and elect independent candidates to office." I got a press release from them celebrating their Colorado affiliate, Unite Colorado announcing "its first wave of independent candidate endorsements for state legislature." This has been catastrophic in Maine and allowed insane people like Tea Party crackpot Paul LePage to win his state's governorship-- twice

-by Sam JammalCandidate for CongressThis week our grassroots movement retired Ed Royce. It’s a huge win for our community and country. We have had 24 years of Ed voting to attack immigrants, cut education, attack women’s rights, undermine our health care and do the bidding of the wealthiest special interests.But while we retired Royce, we have not won the war. This is still a must-win seat for taking back the House.Everything we believe in is still at risk. As a Californian, there isn’t a day that Donald Trump doesn’t attack our state.

The San Antonio Express-News reported that Lamar Smith probably would have been reelected in 2018. But they’re analysis was faulty. Romney took TX-21 with a healthy 59.8% win over Obama’s 37.9%. Trump seriously underperformed in 2016-- beating Hillary 52.5% to 42.5%. Of the 10 counties in the district Trump lost both the 3 biggies-- Bexar County (San Antonio) 54.5% to 41.0% and Travis County (Austin) 66.3% to 27.4%.

By the numbers, the craftily-gerrymandered first congressional district of Ohio looks nearly impossible for a Democrat. It includes most of Cincinnati-- Lyle Park and Prospect Hill but not Mount Adams-- but not all of it (which would turn it blue) and enough of Warren County to guarantee Republican majorities. Since the district was redrawn-- after Obama’s 55-44% win against McCain-- Romney won it with 52% and Trump won it 51-45%.

Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach is an old friend. “The Liberal Lion” of the legislature, when he decided to run for Congress against Pat Meehan (PA-07) last year, he quickly became the front-runner in a crowded Democratic primary field. And then he got caught up in the #MeToo movement. He wasn’t accused of raping anyone or feeling up anyone or using his office inappropriaterly to pressure women to have sex with him or anything like that.

Austin Frerick, a former economist in the Treasury Department is a nice-looking young guy, but he doesn’t appear at all in his first video ad. Instead the ad is a monologue by Chris Peterson, the former president of the Iowa Farmer’s Union. Peterson explains why Iowa farmers should be supporting Frerick for Congress in the 3rd congressional district. IA-03 is a swing district that includes all of southwest Iowa, from the entire Des Moines metro to the Missouri River, including Council Bluffs and the suburbs east of Omaha.

-by Jasper Ward

No reason to settle for crooked GOP-lite candidates in primaries when you have solid progressives like Laura Oatman and Kaniela Ing runningMany of the people who have ever even heard of Doug Chin just know him from the Rachel Maddow show where she celebrates anyone who hates Trump without ever giving any context.

Before the Republicans in the Ohio state legislature gerrymandered Mary Jo Kilroy out of a congressional seat, she was a Blue America-backed progressive in the 15th district. Recently she introduced us to the incredible video above and to the Rick Neal for Congress campaign. By design, the district-- which has a PVI of R+7-- is no piece of cake for a Democrat. It’s one of those districts where, in 2016, Trump did better than Romney and Hillary did worse than Obama. Trump beat her 55.3% to 39.9% there and the DCCC is ignoring the district entirely.

Before Bruce Barlett served in George H.W. Bush’s Treasury Department, he was a Reagan economics advisor and before that he worked as an advisor to Ron Paul. He labored away as a tax specialist for the Heritage Foundation. Since then he’s quit the Republican Party and is now an independent, although, he likes to say, an independent Reaganite.