McCaul

  Behind the scenes Republican operative gave up on winning back the House early in the campaign. Lately they're realizing that even the "easy" wins are beyond their grasp. They should be able to take back seats from Blue Dogs in deep red districts like SC-01 (R+10), UT-04 (R+13), OK-05 (R+), NY-22 (R+6), MN-07 (R+12), VA-07 (R+6), respectively Joe Cunningham, Ben McAdams, Kendra Horn, Anthony Brindisi, Collin Peterson and Abigail Spanberger, half dozen of the worst incumbents from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

  This ad the Sunrise Movement just released to assist Mike Siegel win TX-10 from Trump appendage Michael McCaul, is going to be part of the visual history of the 2020 election-- and one of the best ads of the year. The brand new polling released yesterday show Mike and McCaul tied. Hopefully the Sunrise Movement ad will help enthuse more voters to get out and support Mike. Although... Travis County, the biggest in Mike's district, doesn't need much more enthusiasm than it already has.

  Republicans have controlled Texas for too long and have grown comfortable enough to overlook arrogance and embrace corruption. It's time for them to be put out to pasture. Many Texas voters-- particularly in the suburbs and exurbs around Dallas-Ft Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio-- are sick of Trump and giving up on his enablers.

Progressive challengers-- especially in races against well-heeled incumbents who can write themselves big checks or appeal to corporate SuperPACs-- have two new handicaps: grassroots funds from small donors have largely dried up because of financial uncertainty and grassroots campaign strategies have been upended by pandemic best practices.

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.

When Blue Dogs and Republicans Get Together, Only Bad Can Come Of ItAmericans love bipartisanship. When Long Island Republican Peter King signed on as the first Republican cosponsor of the bill to ban the sale of assault weapons, he may have been the only Republican to do so-- but he was joining Tom Suozzi, a Democrat in the Long Island district just north of his.

"Texodous" isn't in any dictionaries yet; it's just being written about and discussed by talking heads... and it's a hashtag on Twitter. But for Texas Republicans it's frightening real. Texas is hemorrhaging congressional Republicans. Last year the Democrats stumbled into two victories over "entrenched" GOP incumbents.

Aside from being Republicans serving in Congress, what do these 8 men and women have in common: Susan Brooks (R-IN), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Brain Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Will Hurd (R-TX), John Katko (R-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Greg Walden (R-OR)?

Mike Siegel ran in 2018 in Texas' 10th district-- and he just announced he's running again... starting now. Last time he held entrenched Republican multimillionaire Michael McCaul down to a 51.1% win in a district with an R+9 PVI and where Trump beat Hillary 52-43%. The shift towards Mike Siegel in 2018 was 15 points, one of the strongest in Texas.

Trump rubber stamp Bruce Poliquin wants to take away Mainers' healthcare... and pretend it's the DemocratsThis morning I was on the phone with Mike Siegel, the Blue America-endorsed candidate in a gerrymandered Texas district (TX-10) that goes from north Austin all the way through Weimar, Brenham, Columbus and Prairie View into Cypress and Tomball in the exurbs northwest of Houston. He had just gotten back his new polling and it was the best yet.