• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

'17 Specials & '18 Midterms Thread

The Midwest eases its Trump swoon and flirts again with Democratic candidates

But doubts about the ongoing tariff battle and about the administration’s agenda on health care, spending and immigration have changed the terrain. Rather than back the president and Republicans, the Midwest has begun to flirt with candidates who would keep them in check.

In Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio, Democratic senators once thought to be endangered have rebounded and are in fairly safe positions. In House and gubernatorial races, Democrats have grown more competitive since the start of the year — especially in House districts drawn from suburbs that were thought to be safely Republican. In special elections held in the Midwest since Trump’s inauguration, Democrats have improved on their 2016 performance by an average of 11 points.
Click to expand...
 
ACLU results:

Full time home in MA: 81, 86, 92
P/T home in NC: 6, 14, 7
 
On Richard Ojeda running in deep red WV-3:

 
A fiery populist and a business-friendly centrist: Contrasting paths toward a Democratic resurgence in West Virginia

The message is a form of in-your-face populism stylistically similar to Trump’s, but different in the targets of his anger.

“We have to stop letting people come in here and make millionaires and billionaires of themselves off of West Virginia while West Virginia remains poor,” Ojeda said, as he launched into one of his signature indictments of big energy and big drug companies.
Click to expand...

As his community reels from the opioid crisis, he says to any politician “helping or protecting big pharma while they are killing our people, you are a murderer.” He blames feckless legislators beholden to drug interests for delaying implementation of a medical marijuana law Ojeda muscled through the Legislature.
Click to expand...
 
7 Texas Republicans in Congress just got outraised by their Democratic rivals

Yet those victories will come at a cost. In Texas, often viewed as a "donor state" in Republican politics, incumbents having to spend big to protect their own seats could wreak havoc with the money race in other parts of the country.

GOP members of Congress here are expected to raise millions of dollars for the House campaign arm and for vulnerable members elsewhere in the country. For this reason, the state expects and succeeds in holding positions of leadership within the party and chairmanships on Capitol Hill.

Now, many of these members with choice committee assignments and positions of influence in the party may end up spending more of their money protectively back home to reinforce their own seats. Collectively, that could wind up to be a pile of money not being sent to hotly contested races in places like Tucson, Denver and southern California.

An even more dire situation for the GOP would be if national Republicans feel compelled to buy television ads for Texas members they’ve never had to worry about before, like Sessions, Culberson and Carter.
Click to expand...
 
Some other fund-raising notes:

IA-4 JD Scholten out-raised Steve King. Which seems less impressive when you realize Steve King raised $70K.

NC-13 Dem Kathy Manning raised $670K, almost double incumbent Ted Bud and now has $550K more cash on hand

NC-9 (R incumbent lost primary) Dem raised $615K, R raised $360K. Dem has $1.5 million more cash on hand

NY-11 Dem Max Rose out-raised incumbent Dan Donovan and, since Donovan had a competitive primary, now has $900K more on hand

VA-5 (R incumbent not running for re-election) Dem Cockburn raised almost $575K, R Riggleman raised $220K

VA-10, Dem challenger Weston raised $810K, incumbent Comstock raised $540K, but Comstock still has $1MM more cash on hand

PA-17 R Keith Rothfus raised $625K, Dem Conor Lamb raised $700K, even in cash on hand (both are incumbents due to the redrawing of the PA maps. District has a slight right lean.)
 
Megadonor boosts Ward in Arizona Senate race

Conservative megadonor Robert Mercer has cut a $500,000 check to a super PAC backing Arizona Senate hopeful Kelli Ward, a major cash infusion that comes ahead of the Aug. 28 primary.

Polls have shown Ward, a conservative former state senator, trailing GOP Rep. Martha McSally. Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, an immigration hard-liner, is also running in the primary for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.
Click to expand...

A KelliPAC official said the organization would be using the contribution to bankroll a new TV ad casting McSally, the establishment favorite, as insufficiently conservative and attacking her for refusing to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.
Click to expand...
 
My ACLU numbers:

Tammy Duckworth
62%

of the time, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) has voted with the ACLU to defend and advance our civil rights and civil liberties.

Richard J. Durbin
82%

of the time, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) has voted with the ACLU to defend and advance our civil rights and civil liberties.

Mike Quigley
75%

of the time, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL-5) has voted with the ACLU to defend and advance our civil rights and civil liberties.

Kind of surprised at the Duckworth number.
 
Yeah. Definitely surprised. That's disappointing.
 
No. But if you're aligned with ACLU 80% or so of the time, it's disappointing to see someone supports them less.
 
MBStretch said:
Not sure if this has been posted or if this is the best place to put this since it relates to elections further in the future than '17 and '18, but the trending demographics carry with them some serious issues about how the U.S. will be governed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-states/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.6ee0b2d2b5ea
Click to expand...

Florida - conservative-leaning sometimes swing state
Georgia - deep red
NY - deep blue
Texas - deep red but people keep talking about making it purple, who knows by 2040
NC - I don't know WTF we are anymore. Purple but ruled by a deep red minority I guess.
Illinois - light blue
Pennsylvania - used to be deep blue, now hot bed of Trumpism? Pennsylvania confuses me
California - deep blue
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top