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Monday, December 19, 2005

Illinois House Races: Batting a Thousand

Posted by DavidNYC

According to frequent SSP commenter RBH, Steve Waterworth officially filed to run in Illinois' 18th CD today, the last possible day to do so. This means that all eight Republican Congressmembers in IL have Democratic challengers. Great work! Waterworth, an Air Force vet, joins the impressively long list of Fighting Dems to run for office this year.

Next up is Texas, which has a January 2nd filing deadline. Things there are not looking quite so good. The DCCC's site lists 11 GOP-held seats without a Dem challenger; Barry Welsh's page shows potential challengers in three of those seats, but apparently, they haven't filed.

If you're even remotely considering running for one of these seats (1, 2, 3, 8, 11, 12, 13, 23, 24, 26, 32), please go here and check out the Texas Democratic Party's checklist for running for office. The main things you'll need are either $3,125 for a filing fee or 500 signatures. Obviously both of those are pretty sizable hurdles - it's a lot of cash, or a lot of signatures on very short notice, during the holidays. (On the flipside, you might be able to snag large throngs outside of malls and the like.)

Just one thing to think about: It's pretty much impossible to get a candidate on the ballot after a filing deadline has passed. But it's usually a lot easier to switch candidates if you already have a name on the ballot. So if you live in one of those Texas districts and have the time or money to get on the ballot, but aren't really sure you want to run for office, your presence as a place-holder is just as important.

UPDATE: RBH, channeling the Texas Dems, says the the outlook is quite a bit better, and that only the following seats remain without challengers:

TX-02 (Beaumont/Houston Burbs)
TX-11 (Midland/Odessa)
TX-12 (Fort Worth Burbs)
TX-13 (Amarillo)
TX-24 (in-between Dallas and Fort Worth, probably Arlington too)
TX-26 (Denton/Flower Mound/Parts of Fort Worth)

Posted at 04:33 PM in 2006 Elections - House, Illinois, Texas | Technorati

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We have candidates in four of those Texas races.

In the 1st, swimming pool contractor Roger Owen may run against Louie Gohmert.
No website yet!

In the 3rd, Fighting Dem Dan Dodd is running against Sam Johnson.
http://www.dandodd.us

In the 8th, we have 2004 nominee James Wright running again against Kevin Brady. http://www.wrightforcongress.com

In the 26th, we have 2004 nominee Actor Lico Reyes running again too against Michael Burgess. His website isn't up yet!

Posted by: pbcliberaldem at December 19, 2005 07:07 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Candidates who have filed so far (though Friday):

TX-01: Roger Owen
TX-03: Dan Dodd
TX-05: Charlie Thompson
TX-09: Al Green
TX-10: Pat Mynatt
TX-14: Shane Sklar
TX-15: Ruben Hinojosa
TX-17: Chet Edwards
TX-18: Sheila Jackson Lee
TX-28: Ciro Rodriguez
TX-29: Gene Green

Democratic candidates expected to file by 1/2:
TX-04: Kevin Anderson and Glenn Melancon
TX-06: David Harris
TX-07: Jim Henry and David Murff
TX-08: The Lesser Known James Wright
TX-10: Ted Ankrum
TX-16: Rep. Silvestre Reyes
TX-19: Robert Ricketts
TX-20: Rep. Charlie Gonzalez
TX-21: John Courage
TX-22: Nick Lampson
TX-23: Rick Botanos
TX-25: Lloyd Doggett
TX-27: Solomon Ortiz
TX-28: Rep. Henry Cuellar and John Castro
TX-30: Eddie Bernice Johnson
TX-31: Mary Beth Harrell
TX-32: Will Pryor

The open seats (that I know of):
TX-02 (Beaumont/Houston Burbs)
TX-11 (Midland/Odessa)
TX-12 (Fort Worth Burbs)
TX-13 (Amarillo)
TX-24 (in-between Dallas and Fort Worth, probably Arlington too)
TX-26 (Denton/Flower Mound/Parts of Fort Worth)

Posted by: RBH at December 19, 2005 07:11 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

The placeholder idea would be nice if it were true in Texas.

My understanding of Texas law is that you can't switch candidates so easily, unless somebody else is on the ballot.

Posted by: RBH at December 19, 2005 07:17 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Does Illinois hold the First Primarys of the 2006 season or is it Texas just wondering.

Posted by: D in FL. at December 19, 2005 08:13 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Illinois has their primary on March 21st.

Texas has their primary on March 7th and the runoff on April 11th.

Posted by: RBH at December 19, 2005 08:31 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

From Barry Welsh to Kos to MyDD to here...

Can y'all please update your list of unchallenged seats already? Go by RBH's list - it's much more accurate.

It's not like some of this information is hard to find. Right on the index page of the Texas Democratic Party site is a link to a list of candidates who have filed. That would have given you correct information about CD01 and CD03. A little Googling might have led you to a site like Texas Tuesdays, which has a lot of this info plus some others stuff you're missing.

We're supposed to be the Reality-Based Community here. Let's try to be more accurate with these things, okay?

Posted by: kuff at December 20, 2005 06:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Wow. Ouch. I go by the DCCC, so that makes me not "reality-based"? Yeesh. All you had to do was provide some links, friend. No need for the harshness.

Posted by: DavidNYC at December 20, 2005 06:58 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

One thing about the DCCC site - it's not quite accurate, but they are working on it.. still trying to get the bugs out of their automated system. I noticed that none of the '04 candidates (in Michigan at least) running again, show up on their list. They are aware of the problem.

ActBlue has more accurate lists of those who have actually filed (IMHO), and Politics1 includes folks who are thinking/planning but haven't turned in the paperwork yet. I like that Barry Welsh's list cross-references all three places, but the data needs to be kept up to date though.

Posted by: lpackard at December 20, 2005 08:29 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Kuff is a Texan, he was being nice. :D

The Bush/Kerry splits for the open districts..

TX02 (Poe): 63/37 Bush
TX11 (Conaway): 78/22 Bush
TX12 (Granger): 67/33 Bush
TX13 (Thornberry): 78/22 Bush
TX24 (Marchant): 65/35 Bush
TX26 (Burgess): 65/35 Bush

Poe's district appears to be the most friendly, as Beaumont/Port Arthur is pretty darned blue.

Posted by: RBH at December 20, 2005 08:31 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

If I had suggested, perhaps, oh, I dunno, not giving money to any Texas Dems this year, perhaps I could see the need for ribbing. ;)

Posted by: DavidNYC at December 20, 2005 10:01 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Yeah, the Bowers method was recieved pretty poorly.

Posted by: RBH at December 20, 2005 10:34 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I'm sorry, but as I said, this list has been posted multiple times now, and each time there's been an undertone of Texas failing the netroots somehow. Maybe I'm still bitter about Chris Bowers' MyDD posts arguing for withholding money to any Texas Democrat unless all these races are filled.

I'm sorry that I sounded so defensive, but I'm a little tired of seeing this same list when the information is out there. The comments thread at Kos had all the corrections needed, for example. And I can't help but note that my comment came a full day after RBH posted his corrections in the comments here, but the original post wasn't edited. That's all I'm looking for here, some acknowledgement that this list is not accurate. Thanks.

Posted by: kuff at December 20, 2005 11:27 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Sorry, I'm a little calmer now, and now I've seen the other comments that were posted since DavidNYC's first reply (for some reason, they weren't on my screen even though I'd refreshed).

I really don't mean to sound harsh, I just want everyone to know we're doing our best here, and as RBH pointed out, all these districts suck. Don't let your understandable concern about these as yet unopposed districts cloud the fact that we've got some dynamite people running in many others. Texas may surprise you yet.

Posted by: kuff at December 20, 2005 11:35 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Kuff, no worries. We're all on the same team. I imagine you guys probably feel a bit on the defensive, when you have certain people ready for nuclear war over the fact that you're having a tough time recruiting people for truly horrible districts. (I mean, districts like those didn't turn over even in 1994.)

Which was why I consciously avoided any criticism in my post - because none whatsoever is deserved. Yes, I want to see 435 Democratic candidates, but that's not going to happen in 2006, and nor is it worth flipping out about.

Also, we're now down to just 6 unfilled districts, which is pretty darn good considering that in 2004, a much bigger presidential year, the Dems did not contest four seats in TX and we still have a couple weeks left before the filing deadline.

Now, as to me, I didn't have the chance to read through all the comments at Kos, and while I would have liked to update this post sooner, I'm only one man, and this isn't my full-time job. I know this is something everyone here can appreciate, especially people who run their own blogs.

Posted by: DavidNYC at December 21, 2005 12:08 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

David, I agree, and I thank you for making the update and for your understanding. I appreciate the work you do here, and I look forward to seeing your insights on the contested races we will have in 2006. Happy holidays!

Posted by: kuff at December 21, 2005 07:05 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I guess now's a little late to try and get Pro Wrestler Terry Funk to run in TX13. Sure, the name recognition might be cancelled out by the heavy Republican tilt of the district.

Granted, "Pro Wrestling Dems" is probably a gimmick that isn't quite ready for implementation.

Posted by: RBH at December 21, 2005 12:55 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade here, but TX-26 is not going to turn without a MASSIVE Latino turnout. I have lived in that area since '94. I am all for challenging every seat, but Lico Reyes is probably not going to flip it.

Posted by: napk at December 24, 2005 05:23 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment