2020 congressional elections

Not a good image for the North Country this cycleNorth Country conservative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is well-known among DC insiders-- but virtually unknown outside-the-Beltway. Or she was until last week, when she consistently beclowned herself on national TV during the impeachment hearings.

Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) hammering Trump by Nancy OhanianI don't want to go into-- for the 300th time-- the whole long story about how I helped my congressman first get elected in 2000 and then was mortified when he joined the Blue Dogs and started voting like a Republican. Needless to say, my support turned to anger and I never voted for any of his reelection bids-- and stopped talking to him. But, lately, things have changed.

.mcclatchy-embed{position:relative;padding:40px 0 56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%}.mcclatchy-embed iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%}North Carolina leans a little Republican. The state's shifting PVI is currently R+3 but that doesn't tell the whole story. As of November 9 of this year this is how voters were registered:

AOC won her race against Joe "the next Speaker" Crowley for a number of reasons. She's charismatic; she out-worked him; he was an absentee congressman in a demographically changed district; his record was far too conservative for the district... there were others.

Minnesota's 6th district hasn't been friendly territory for congressional Democratic candidates in a very long time. Originally white flight suburbs and exurbs north and west of the Twin Cities, the district is the reddest in the state, with an R+12 PVI.

Early this morning, Peter King-- first elected to Congress from the south shore of Long Island in 1992-- announced, on his Facebook page, that he won't be running for reelection. The announcement didn't say anything you wouldn't expect from a lock-step Trump enabler.

Hillary is being left behind by history-- but embraced by Big PhRMALast week Alexander Burns wasted a New York Times column on Hillary Clinton's opposition to Medicare-for-All.

"The fight happening now for the Democratic presidential nomination," wrote Norman Solomon, "largely amounts to class warfare. And the forces that have triumphed in the past are outraged that they currently have to deal with progressive opposition from not one but two candidates...

Buzz on Capitol Hill is that Mark Meadows may give up his safe House seat for a year-- if he lasts a year-- as Trump's chief of staff.

Last cycle Mike Siegel held Trump enabler Michael McCaul to just 51.1%, McCaul's worst showing in his political career. McCaul, one of the two or three richest members of Congress-- his in-laws are robber barons-- spent  $1,754,122 on the race, swamping Mike's $477,926. The DCCC declined to get involved, telling institutional donors to skip the race because it was too red a district and because Mike is a progressive.